What is child labour?
Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.
rights of a child
- Provision: Children have the right to an adequate standard of living, health care, education and services, and to play and recreation. These include a balanced diet, a warm bed to sleep in, and access to schooling.
- Protection: Children have the right to protection from abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination. This includes the right to safe places for children to play; constructive child rearing behavior, and acknowledgment of the evolving capacities of children.
- Participation: Children have the right to participate in communities and have programs and services for themselves. This includes children's involvement in libraries and community programs, youth voice activities, and involving children as decision-makers.[16][17]
- Economic, social and cultural rights, related to the conditions necessary to meet basic human needs such as food, shelter, education, health care, and gainful employment. Included are rights to education, adequate housing, food, water, the highest attainable standard of health, the right to work and rights at work, as well as the cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples.
- Environmental, cultural and developmental rights, which are sometimes called "third generation rights," and including the right to live in safe and healthy environments and that groups of people have the right to cultural, political, and economic development.
Unicef facts
One out of six children in the world today is involved in child labour, doing work that is damaging to his or her mental, physical and emotional development.
- Every year 22 000 children die in work related accidents
- 73 million working children are less than 10 years old
- 40-50% of those in bonded labour are children
- The largest number of working children are in the Asia-Pacific region
- Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest proportion of working children; 69 million - nearly one third of children aged 14 and under
- Most children work in the informal sector (e.g. in homes or on the streets) without any legal protection
- 69% work in agriculture, commercial hunting and fishing or forestry
- 9% work in manufacturing
- 8% in wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels
- 7% in community, social and personal service, such as domestic work.
- June 12th is the World Day Against Child Labour.
d-sector
- 217.7 million Children of 5-7 age groups are engaged in child labour around the world.
- Among working children, 5-14 age group, 69% are employed in agriculture sector, 9% in the industrial sector and the remaining, 0.9% in mining, 6.5% in personal services like domestic help and the remaining in other activities like hotels and retail trade.
- 4.7 million Or 13.4% of all children of age group 5-14 are working.
- Around 20% of child labourers suffer from severe illness or injuries during work which leads to a permanent disability to work.
- Around 4 in 5 children, work without pay.
- Around 70 per cent of child workers are unpaid family workers, especially in rural areas.
- Asia, being the most densely populated region of the world, has the largest number of child workers i.e. 61 per cent followed by 32 per cent in Africa and remaining 7 per cent in Latin America.
- 3 out of 4 working children, work in hazardous conditions.
ILO
The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
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worst types of child labour
(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debtbondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
10 Fast Facts About Child Labour:
- Today, there are more children enslaved than any time in history.
- Most recent report shows: 127 million boys, 88 million girls worldwide are involved in child labour, 74 milion boys and 41 million girls in the worst forms.
- Children trafficked into one form of labour may be later sold into another, mainly girls later trafficked into the sex industry.
- 300,000 children younger than 18 years old, are trafficked to serve in armed conflicts worldwide.
- 30% of children are sold into the sex industry as young as 11 years old, in some horrific cases as young as 8 years old.
- Family members living in poverty will often sell their children into slavery. The younger the victim, the more money traffickers & recruiters get.
- 13 Million children around the world are victims of human trafficking.
- Child labour a major concern in many parts of the world: Asia 153 million, Africa 8 million, including Latin America & Caribbean 17 million.
- Some children are forced to weave up to 18 hours a day, often never leaving the factory or loom shed.
- Girls are being sold like cattle in domestic servitude. They end up physically, sexually and emotional abused, usually forced to work unpaid.
why do countries and companies use child labour?
Large corporations and governments use child labour in developing countries because:
- They can pay child labourers much less in developing countries rather than pay adults minimum wage in developed countries.
- Governments WANT companies to come to there country because have to give them a portion of there profit to stay in that country that money is desperately need since most countries that use child labour are 3rd world countries and are in bad economic shape needing all the money they can get.
top 10 worst countries for child labour
10. Ethiopia
Nearly 60 per cent of Ethiopian children are put to work to supplement family income, earning about a dollar a month. Most toil as domestics, farm hands and in the nation's poorly developed gold mines.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
9. Pakistan
Children continue to be abducted, rented, bought and sold in Pakistan, where Nike was famously accused of exploiting lapse underage work laws for the production of soccer balls. Most of the labor offences occur in the nation's Punjab province, which is a global supplier of stitched rugs, musical instruments and sports equipment.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
8. Burundi
Almost a quarter of all children aged 4-15 are said to be involved in child labor, including slavery, in the small East African nation of Burundi. The large number of youths engaging in heavy manual work in Burundi's agricultural, mining and brick-making industries held steady in 2011, but there was a rise in child prostitution.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
7. Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, where children make up half the population, more than 30 per cent of primary-school aged children go to work in cement, textile and food processing industries, or in the poppy fields. A growing number of underage girls are also being given away to repay debts, according to Maplecroft.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
6. Zimbabwe
A large number of Zimbabwean children work, unofficially, in the country's chrome, diamond and gold mines. A popular program dubbed Learn as You Earn has also encouraged child labor in the forestry and agriculture sectors, often at the expense of a formal school education.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
5. Democratic Republic of Congo
Labor conditions in the DRC came into focus during the Beijing Olympics, when it was reported that some of the iron ore used to construct China's stadiums was mined by hand by children in the central African nation. Maplecroft says child labor accounts for about 30 per cent of mining activity in the DRC.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
4. Sudan
In the war-torn nation of Sudan, in North Africa, children are commonly recruited as child soldiers, or to be used for forced labor on farms. Young girls are also seized and put to work as underage sex workers, or even slaves.
Sudan and the following three countries are in a class of their own for child labor risk.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
3. Somalia
Close to 40 per cent of all children under 15 under are put to work in Somalia, where they engage
in the worst forms of child labor, according to the UNHCR. As well as being used in armed conflict, as bodyguards or sex slaves within militias, children frequently work with dangerous equipment in the agriculture sector and in quarries.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
2. North Korea
In North Korea there have been numerous reports of child 're-education through labor', where youths are placed in labor camps as punishment for political offences. Although the country's secretive government has officially outlawed underage work, school children can be seen working in factories and fields.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
1. Myanmar
In Myanmar (Burma), where 40 per cent of children never enroll in school, the Burmese army recruits youths as young as 12 years old. Those who don't serve as soldiers or military porters are often forced to labor on farms, run street markets or collect rubbish in the streets. Suicide is common among the worst treated.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-worst-child-labor-risks-2012-1?op=1#ixzz2DIXHCgMy
Nearly 60 per cent of Ethiopian children are put to work to supplement family income, earning about a dollar a month. Most toil as domestics, farm hands and in the nation's poorly developed gold mines.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
9. Pakistan
Children continue to be abducted, rented, bought and sold in Pakistan, where Nike was famously accused of exploiting lapse underage work laws for the production of soccer balls. Most of the labor offences occur in the nation's Punjab province, which is a global supplier of stitched rugs, musical instruments and sports equipment.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
8. Burundi
Almost a quarter of all children aged 4-15 are said to be involved in child labor, including slavery, in the small East African nation of Burundi. The large number of youths engaging in heavy manual work in Burundi's agricultural, mining and brick-making industries held steady in 2011, but there was a rise in child prostitution.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
7. Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, where children make up half the population, more than 30 per cent of primary-school aged children go to work in cement, textile and food processing industries, or in the poppy fields. A growing number of underage girls are also being given away to repay debts, according to Maplecroft.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
6. Zimbabwe
A large number of Zimbabwean children work, unofficially, in the country's chrome, diamond and gold mines. A popular program dubbed Learn as You Earn has also encouraged child labor in the forestry and agriculture sectors, often at the expense of a formal school education.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
5. Democratic Republic of Congo
Labor conditions in the DRC came into focus during the Beijing Olympics, when it was reported that some of the iron ore used to construct China's stadiums was mined by hand by children in the central African nation. Maplecroft says child labor accounts for about 30 per cent of mining activity in the DRC.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
4. Sudan
In the war-torn nation of Sudan, in North Africa, children are commonly recruited as child soldiers, or to be used for forced labor on farms. Young girls are also seized and put to work as underage sex workers, or even slaves.
Sudan and the following three countries are in a class of their own for child labor risk.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
3. Somalia
Close to 40 per cent of all children under 15 under are put to work in Somalia, where they engage
in the worst forms of child labor, according to the UNHCR. As well as being used in armed conflict, as bodyguards or sex slaves within militias, children frequently work with dangerous equipment in the agriculture sector and in quarries.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
2. North Korea
In North Korea there have been numerous reports of child 're-education through labor', where youths are placed in labor camps as punishment for political offences. Although the country's secretive government has officially outlawed underage work, school children can be seen working in factories and fields.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
1. Myanmar
In Myanmar (Burma), where 40 per cent of children never enroll in school, the Burmese army recruits youths as young as 12 years old. Those who don't serve as soldiers or military porters are often forced to labor on farms, run street markets or collect rubbish in the streets. Suicide is common among the worst treated.
Ranking from Maplecroft.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-worst-child-labor-risks-2012-1?op=1#ixzz2DIXHCgMy
- 2016 is the target date for eliminating the worst forms of child labour.
- The Hague Global Conference on Child Labour in 2010 called for more action on the worst forms of child labour, including kids working in trafficking situations.
- World Vision is launching an End Child Slavery campaign to tackle the worst forms of child labour (endchildslavery.ca).
- According to the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO), an estimated 115 million children do hazardous work.
- That’s about 53% of the 215 million child labourers and more than 7% of all children aged 5-17 in the world
- About 48 million children – aged 5 to 17 – do hazardous work in Asia and the Pacific.
- About 9.5 million are involved in hazardous work in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Almost 39 million have been counted in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- And an additional 18.9 are involved in hazardous work in other regions.
- ILO officials have found a 20% increase over the past four years in the in hazardous work done by older children.
- There has been a substantial decrease in hazardous work done by younger children — aged 5 to 14.
- Child labourers are those up to the age of 17
- Children have a higher rate of injury and death at work than adults.
- There has been success in getting children out of unsafe work environments, largely due to international efforts to reduce child labour numbers.
Economic benefits
Question: What are the costs and benefits of eliminating child labour?
Answer: Our study says that the costs would be in the area of US$760 billion, while the benefits would be nearly seven times that - an estimated US$ 5.1 trillion in the developing and transitional economies, where most child labourers are found. Though this commitment may seem huge, the annual cost of replacing child labour with universal education by 2020 pales in comparison to other costs borne by developing countries. Average annual costs would amount to about 20 per cent of current military spending, or 9.5 per cent of debt service.
Answer: Our study says that the costs would be in the area of US$760 billion, while the benefits would be nearly seven times that - an estimated US$ 5.1 trillion in the developing and transitional economies, where most child labourers are found. Though this commitment may seem huge, the annual cost of replacing child labour with universal education by 2020 pales in comparison to other costs borne by developing countries. Average annual costs would amount to about 20 per cent of current military spending, or 9.5 per cent of debt service.