Imagine being woken up at five in the morning and getting ready for work. You hate to have to do this work when you could be doing something better, but you still trudge through it in order to fend for your family. This may sound like many people’s everyday lifestyles, but there are differences. You are being forced to work in dangerous conditions and you are only a child.
You’ve probably been told how hard work is “wholesome” or “character building” which could very well be true, but it is vital to distinguish what sort of work we are referring to. While doing work at school would most likely be beneficial to you, other children around the world are being forced to work in dangerous and inhumane conditions that are detrimental to their mental and physical health, and their entire society. We need to come together to heal this tragic epidemic of child labor and abolish it once and for all. Child labor has always been a problem across the globe. In 2008, there were 215 million children working illegally. That’s about 14 percent of the earth’s population of children under 18. While 100 million of them are under the age of 15 –the international minimum age to be lawfully employed– and do supposed “light work”, the other 115 million children under the age of 18 do hazardous work everyday. Many of these children’s work includes: handling hazardous chemicals, working in mines and quarries, carrying heavy loads, handling dangerous machinery, enduring constant or not enough sunlight, and enduring long hours. Children are also often forced into illegal labor such as stealing, prostitution, military enrollment, and drug trafficking. Child labor mainly exists in third-world countries, but it also exists in countries that you wouldn’t expect including the United States (which I will later discuss).
When a child’s life vastly consists of only laborious work, they are prevented from developing in ways both physical and mental. Many of the children grow up with physical development problems because of all the labor and unsafe work conditions – in addition to living in poverty with mal-nutrition. According to a study, 60 percent of the child laborers in Bangladesh who are 14 to 16 years old work a minimum of 14 hours in one day. The majority of child laborers work in agriculture and are exposed to countless unhealthy hours of sun radiation. Numerous children who were working in the construction and welding industry developed skin diseases and eye problems. Also, many children who have to sit hunch-backed all day while working develop various spinal problems. Nearly 90 percent of child laborers experience physical pain during and/or after working hours. Even worse is that almost none of the children are recognized for professional treatment for their health problems. Even if they were, they wouldn’t have the money to do so. Not only does child labor affect the physical well being of these children, but it disturbs their psychological health too. According to the Bangladesh Development Research Working Paper Series (BDRWPS): “Children who are in risky job fields have no opportunity to build their natural psycho-social health. Long working hours breed their feeling of frustration and inadequacy. Their involvement in risky work resists eventually in building their emotional cognitive skills and they become withdrawn, introvert and uncommunicative.” The effects are catastrophic to the children’s lives in every way imaginable.
While these children’s’ lives are being ruined by labor, with an education they could be enlightening themselves and helping the world. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names, and today there are approximately 121 million children worldwide who do not have a formal education. The children involved in labor definitely do learn some skills from their work, like how to use machinery, make bricks, or sew precious rugs, but with an education they could learn so much more. They could not only learn the skills for their trade, but they could get a taste for many trades and get to choose and work up to what they will someday do. They could learn about their own health and their family’s health. They could learn about how business and the economy works, in order to find a job that could support them and their family better and find higher-quality work. They could learn why there is child labor and be able to make a difference in the world and feel empowered. Their participation in particular fields would help the economy at all levels. An education would benefit themselves, their family, their society, and the rest of the world. So why does child labor exist if it is so terrible? Unfortunately, so many countries are economically dependant on child labor because they desperately need money from any source available. According to statistics, 5.05 billion people – which is more than 80 percent of the world's population – live on less than $10 a day. Approximately 24,000 people die each day due to lack of food and nutrition. UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) also stated that 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. The numbers are devastating and families are forced to go to drastic measures for the littlest bit of food or money. It is an extremely rare happening for a worker to earn a substantial amount of money for food for their family. Child labor is probably considered a necessary evil but it cannot be tolerated any longer.
Various actions have been taken in attempts to abolish child labor, but it is a slow and continual process. In Kenya, it has become illegal for children under 16 to work in industries, but the agriculture industry is excluded from this law. Bangladesh also has made laws for a minimum age to work, but they also exclude agriculture and domestic work. Many campaigns have begun around the world by the United Nations, the Global Campaign for Education, the International Labor Organization, and many others. The child labor laws that you’ve most likely heard of are the ones that happened in the United States. Children as young as 7 years old used to work in textile mills for 12 hours a day. This changed in 1938 when a federal law was passed, limiting work hours for children and requiring safe working conditions. Fortunately, child labor has been decreasing slightly, but child labor laws are being more and more often violated. According to Jeffrey Newman of the National Child Labor Committee, “Child labor today is at a point where violations are greater than at any point during the 1930s...” It is comforting to know that there are efforts working against this epidemic of child labor, but it is devastating to hear that they are so easily neglected.
The attempts to end child labor have taken strong efforts and still do. Every effort counts if we want this to end. Here are three simple things that you can do to help the world realize we want this to change:
1. As a consumer you have the power to change the issue from the bottom up. By buying products that are made by people being treated right and boycotting products that are made with child labor, we can make a tangible difference. This supports what we want and rejects what we don’t want. Doing so also shows companies and manufacturers what their consumers want, and pressures them to change. One great website that can help you do so is: http://www.fairtrade.net/
2. You can write to companies, organizations, and government officials. Expressing to them how you see the issue and what sort of change you want gives them a direct message.
3. You can join with others who share your intentions and bring a stop to child labor with your hearts joined. Some of the many organizations that you can choose to support are:
If enough people join together to support the abolition of child labor, we can significantly improve the lives of the children, their families, their societies, and the world as a whole. :)
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This is a wonderfully well thought out, well researched and well written post!!! You do a great job here of explaining the situation and suggesting remedies. I'm very impressed and can tell you put a lot of time and thought into this. Really well done -- you should be very proud!
ReplyDeleteThank you Miss Holly! :)
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