In conclusion, child labor is a serious world-wide issue right now. It has taken so many beautiful childhoods away from millions of children by forcing them into dangerous and tiring jobs that may damage their young bodies and minds. It also has a great impact on society by slowing down the economic growth of a country because less children are receiving education. As a result, many children never reach their true potential and cannot aspire to any meaningful jobs. Moreover, when children are exploited and traumatized in brutal conditions, they will become a burden rather than productive members of their societies. As the future generation of this world, all of them have the right to live a healthy, happy and safe childhood as well as receiving education to stimulate their creativity.
All adults have the responsibility to protect children from all dangerous situations and provide them with secure living conditions and the free to enjoy a relatively carefree childhood. No matter how great the need is for families in developing countries to send even their youngest children into the work force, there must be regulations in place to protect these children. No matter where we are from, where do we live, or what job we do, we should all try our best to eliminate child labor in many different way, and make this world a better place.
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![]() As a world-wide issue, child labor is not easy to be stopped. But if everyone tries their best, more children can be protected from child labor. Here are a few tips for helping end child labor according to Marsha Rakestraw:
In my opinion, child labor seems to be a serious issue that is hard to be eliminate, but if everyone tries their best to put some effort in, we will be able to protect more children from this terrible experience. The above tips may seem a lot for many people; however, you just need to change some of the habits in your lives. For example, buy your food from famers’ market, buy fair trade product if possible, etc. These small details may seem trivial to lots of people, but if everyone does those “negligible” things together, it is going to make a huge change. Sometimes we just have to believe that we are able to make this world a better place; as long as we have a kind, caring heart and are willing to go in to actions, child labor will be annihilated ![]() Child soldier is the worst form of child labor. Thousands of children are serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world. These boys and girls, some as young as 8 years old, serve in government forces and armed opposition groups. They may fight on the front lines, participate in suicide missions, and act as spies, messengers, or lookouts. Girls may be forced into sexual slavery. Many are abducted or recruited by force, while others join out of desperation, believing that armed groups offer their best chance for survival. “Child soldiers.” Human rights watch. https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-soldiers Here are some facts about child soldiers according to Priscilla Rodarte: -Child soldiers are children under the age of 18 who are recruited by armed groups who use children as shields, cooks, suicide bombers, fighters, spies, messengers and/or for sexual purposes. -Some children are under the age of 10 when they are forced to serve. -Children who are forced to serve as soldiers most likely are displaced, poor, have little access to education or live in war zones. -The following countries have reported use of child soldiers since 2011: Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Pakistan, Thailand, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and more. -Some child soldiers are forced to act violently against their families and communities to make sure they do not return home. http://borgenproject.org/10-facts-child-soldiers/ In my opinion, sending children to battlefields and forcing them to become part of the army is the cruelest form of child labor. Under so many cases, they would have to face dangerous situations and are likely to end up with sacrificing their lives. Even though few of them may have fortunately survived, this dreadful experience would probability damaged their bodies and minds permanently; and they would have to live under this terrible influence for the rest of their lives. I am not only feeling sorrowful but also furious when I think of the fact that many of these child soldiers' entire lives are being ruined by their governments who push them to the bloody battlefield. These governments should stop using child soldiers immediately if they still want their countries' future to be bright. ![]() ILO: ILO stands for International Labor Organization. It is a United Nations agency dealing with labor issues, particularly international labor standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all; and child labor is one of its programs. The ILO's international program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) was created in 1992 with the overall goal of the progressive elimination of child labor, which was to be achieved through strengthening the capacity of countries to deal with the problem and promoting a worldwide movement to combat child labor. IPEC currently has operations in 88 countries, with an annual expenditure on technical cooperation projects that reached over US$74 million, €50 million in 2006. It is the largest program of its kind globally and the biggest single operational program of the ILO. “International Labor Organization.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Labour_Organization IIECL: The International Initiative on Exploitative Child Labor (IIECL), also commonly known as the International Initiative to End Child Labor, is a US-based, not-for-profit organization, founded in 1998 and incorporated in 1999, that conducts and/or provides education, training, technical assistance, capacity building, research, social accountability auditing, resources, program planning and design, and monitoring and evaluation services to public and private sector, non-governmental organizations, and international research and development institutions that seek to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the United States and around the world. “About the IIECL.” International Initiative to End Child Labor http://endchildlabor.net/about/ In my opinion, all these organizations that deal with child labor have a great impact on focusing their efforts to eliminate child labor. ILO is the organization that defines child labor and identifies it as an illegal act. With this act in place, many people who have profited from child labor have been forced to look elsewhere for its workers. Another organization, the IIECL, is also trying to eliminate child labor by providing education for young people, monitoring and evaluating services to the public and private sectors which used child labor to profit their businesses. I believe our more affluent society should fund more organizations like these to help end child labor by either educating the public about the dangers of child labor or building opportunities for the less fortunate children in our world by providing them with education and a safe environment. All children have the right to a childhood free from forced labor in horrific workplace conditions. Eveline Danubrata and Bernadette Christina. “MuntheNestle and Kellogg ‘profit’ from ‘appalling’ child labor abuse in palm oil plantation: Amnesty International.” National post. November 30, 2016 10:51 AM http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/nestle-and-kellogg-profit-from-appalling-child-labour-abuse-in-indonesian-palm-oil-plantation
JAKARTA — Global consumer companies, including Unilever, Nestle, Kellogg and Procter & Gamble, have sourced palm oil from Indonesian plantations where labor abuses were uncovered, Amnesty International said on Wednesday. Children as young as eight worked in “hazardous” conditions at palm plantations run by Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd and its suppliers on the Indonesian islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra, Amnesty said in a report. Amnesty, which said it interviewed 120 workers, alleges that many of them worked long hours for low pay and without adequate safety equipment. The palm oil from these plantations could be traced to nine multinational companies, it said. “Despite promising customers that there will be no exploitation in their palm oil supply chains, big brands continue to profit from appalling abuses,” said Meghna Abraham, senior investigator at Amnesty. The NGO said it chose Wilmar as the focus of its investigation as the company is the world’s largest processor and merchandiser of palm and lauric oils, controlling more than 43 per cent of the global palm oil trade. Other companies operating palm plantations in Indonesia include Golden Agri-Resources Ltd, Indofood Agri Resources Ltd and PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk. Even though Indonesia has strong labor laws under which most of the abuses can amount to criminal offences, these laws are poorly enforced by the government, Amnesty said. Wilmar said it welcomed the NGO’s report, which helps to highlight labor issues within the broader palm oil industry, but added that finding a solution requires the collaboration of governments, companies and civil society organizations. “We acknowledge that there are ongoing labor issues in the palm oil industry, and these issues could affect any palm company operating in Indonesia,” it said. When I saw this news, I was very surprised that famous company like Nestle is also one of the organizations that is “profiting” from child labor. As a huge company with high fame, this behavior would definitely have a negative effect on the child labor issue. To my way of thinking, every child should be able to trust the adults in their world to protect them and provide them with chances to develop their young minds and bodies as best as they can. The result of growing up in a healthy and morally correct environment would certainly lead to a more productive future generation. Moneh and Nhihan are brothers who have been working on carpet looms since they were four and five years old. They work to help their family meet their basic needs. ‘The health hazards caused to us are that our fingers are trimmed and we have to work all day long. Often for a couple of days in a week, we have to work for the whole day and night. Mohen often gets miserable and fatigued with the long hours of work and he tries to escape. Then the master weaver keeps a strict watch on him and never lets him move for three or four days…’
Nihanl. “True Stories”. Child labor help. http://daianandarushichildlaborhelp.blogspot.ca/p/true-stories.html A Child in the Coffee Forests Since he was a young child, Alberto* has been working on local corn and coffee farms in Western El Salvador to help his family earn a small income. At the end of a 4 am to 6 pm workday, threatened by snakes, rats and unkind adults, a tired and hungry Alberto comes home to his large family in their one room house made of clay and wood. Alberto supports his family armed with a basket, a machete and his bare hands to pluck coffee beans from trees or break up land, plant and harvest corn. He suffers from respiratory sickness; poor nutrition and the coolness of early morning labor compromises his health. The work is exhausting. It can take Alberto days to travel through the coffee forests to harvest the beans required for a 100 lb. bag of coffee. He then carries the bag alone, all 100lbs, to a farmer’s scale where will earn only $8.00 to $10.00 for this work. “A CHILD IN THE COFFEE FORESTS”. No child for sale. https://nochildforsale.ca/casestudies/In my opinion, children should not be paid less just because of their age. Also, employers are not supposed to make children work at dangerous jobs which could cause harm to their bodies as well as their emotional development. Working to earn a bit of money to help out their families is not an efficient or moral way to lift themselves out of poverty. On the other hand, receiving an education would lead them to finding a safer and better job. Moreover, I think that society as a whole, is responsible for helping children achieve their dreams and potential, no matter in which country they live. In an ideal world, children, our future generation and hope, should be given opportunity to have a safe and happy childhood, receive education and develop their abilities in order to achieve their potential in their future. However, it is heartbreaking that long hours of child labor are still happening every single day in this world. Here are some facts about child labor:
In many countries, especially in the third world, large families nay resort to sending even their youngest children to bed in the streets, often maiming them to elicit more sympathy. Very young children also fall prey to a life of prostitution to help their families financially. Some children become thieve to make a quick buck on which the family's survival depends. Child labor also has a negative impact on the welfare of a nation. Since these children do not receive any education, it increases illiteracy, hampering the overall economic growth of the country, reflecting poor human development. Lack of education as children also means that as adults, finding jobs becomes almost impossible since these children lack the necessary skills and training for any meaningful job. This leads to a sharp hike in unemployment. Such children are always underpaid, which lowers the country's per capita income, putting long-term economic development in peril.
In my opinion, child labor would physically and morally affect children in an extremely negative way. It also would negatively affect a country’s economy. Without an educated future generation, a country may not well face economic collapse. In addition, child labors may not expect to have live a long life expectancy, nor will they be able to move out of their circumstances to a more productive and happier life. Often, some of the children have much potential to become more than just someone's cheap labor. However, their brightness diminishes over time of mind-numbing tasks, and as a result the country loses out on yet another powerful addition to its development. Kale, Sailee. “Causes and effects of child labor.” Buzzle. December 25, 2011 http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-child-labor.html Child laborers are at a high risk of illness, injury and even death due to a wide variety of machinery, biological, physical, chemical, ergonomic, welfare/hygiene and psychosocial hazards, as well as from long hours of work and poor living conditions. The work hazards and risks that affect adult workers can affect child laborers even more strongly. For example, physical strain, especially when combined with repetitive movements, on growing bones and joints can cause stunting, spinal injury and other lifelong deformation and disabilities. Children often also suffer psychological damage from working and living in an environment where they are denigrated, harassed or experience violence and abuse. In addition, child labor has a profound effect on a child’s future.
Child labor is a complex problem and numerous factors influence whether children work or not. Poverty emerges as the most compelling reason why children work. Poor households spend the bulk of their income on food and the income provided by working children is often critical to their survival. However, poverty is not the only factor in child labor and cannot justify all types of employment and servitude. Countries may be equally poor and yet have relatively high or relatively low levels of child labor. Other factors include: Barriers to education – basic education is not free in all countries and is not always available for all children, especially in remote rural areas. Where schools are available, the quality of education can be poor and the content not relevant. In situations where education is not affordable or parents see no value in education, children are sent to work, rather than to school. Culture and tradition – with few opportunities open to children with more education, parents are likely to share a cultural norm in which labor is seen as the most productive use of a child’s time. Children are often expected to follow in their parents’ footsteps and are frequently summoned to “help” other members of the family, often at a young age. Market demand – child labor is not accidental. Employers may prefer to hire children because they are “cheaper” than their adult counterparts, can be dispensed of easily if labor demands fluctuate and also form a docile, obedient work-force that will not seek to organize itself for protection and support. “Overview”. Child slavery worldwide. http://childslaveryworldwide.weebly.com/overview.html In my opinion, even though some parents see their children as being crucial to the family's financial situation, they should not send their children into dangerous jobs. In our modern world, countries as rich as Canada, believe that every child has the right to grew adulthood enjoying childhood freedom and education, to reach their potential. Unfortunately, many children in the world do not have these opportunities, since an entire family's daily survival may depend on the few pennies a five-year-old may earn in a very long, exhausting day. Child labor is defined in ILO Conventions. It is work that children should not be doing because they are too young to work, or – if they are old enough to work – because it is dangerous or otherwise unsuitable for them. There are many forms of child labor worldwide. Children are engaged in agricultural labor, in mining, in manufacturing, in domestic service, types of construction, scavenging and begging on the streets. For some work, children receive no payment, only food and a place to sleep. Moreover, children in informal sector work receive no payment if they are injured or become ill, and can seek no protection if they suffer violence or are maltreated by their employer.
Fegran, Mathilde. Prezi. 24 April 2014 https://prezi.com/2ycsa4njkprl/untitled-prezi/ I am very fortunate to have lived a safe and comfortable life from my early years until the present. When I see children around the world who will never have the same benefits as I have had, I am filled with not only sadness but also with anger. Some of the forms of child labor are extremely harmful and they violate the child’s freedom and human rights. Finally, the United Nations System Chief Executives Board says, “all child labor, and especially the worst forms, should be eliminated. It not only undermines the roots of human nature and rights but also threatens future social and economic progress worldwide.” |
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