Child Labour
Child labour refers to the exploitation of
children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood,
interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally,
physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited
by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by
children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family
duties, supervised training, and some forms of child work practiced by Amish children, as
well as by indigenous children in
the Americas.
Child labour has existed to varying extents throughout history.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer
families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike. These children
mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories,
mining, and services such as news boys – some worked night shifts
lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools
and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.
In the world's poorest countries, around one in four children
are engaged in child labour, the highest number of whom (29 percent) live
in sub-saharan Africa. In 2017, four African
nations (Mali, Benin, Chad and Guinea-Bissau) witnessed over 50 percent of
children aged 5–14 working. Worldwide agriculture is the largest employer
of child labour. The vast majority of child labour is found in rural
settings and informal urban economies; children are predominantly employed by
their parents, rather than factories. Poverty and lack of schools are
considered the primary cause of child labour.
Globally the incidence of child labour decreased from 25% to 10%
between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank. Nevertheless,
the total number of child labourers remains high, with UNICEF and ILO acknowledging an
estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide were involved in child
labour in 2013.
Causes
Young girl working on a loom in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco, in May 2008
Agriculture deploys 70% of the world's child
labour. Above, child worker on a rice farm in Vietnam.
International Labour Organization (ILO) suggests poverty is the
greatest single cause behind child labour. For impoverished households,
income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or
for that of the household. Income from working children, even if small, may be
between 25 and 40% of the household income. Other scholars such as Harsch on
African child labour, and Edmonds and Pavcnik on global child labour have
reached the same conclusion.
Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and
quality education, according to ILO,is another major factor driving children to
harmful labour. Children work because they have nothing better to do. Many
communities, particularly rural areas where between 60–70% of child labour is
prevalent, do not possess adequate school facilities. Even when schools are
sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or
the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is
really worth it.
Cultural
In European history when child labour was common, as well as in
contemporary child labour of modern world, certain cultural beliefs have
rationalised child labour and thereby encouraged it. Some view that work is
good for the character-building and skill development of children. In many
cultures, particular where the informal economy and small household businesses
thrive, the cultural tradition is that children follow in their parents'
footsteps; child labour then is a means to learn and practice that trade from a
very early age. Similarly, in many cultures the education of girls is less
valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these
girls pushed into child labour such as providing domestic services.
Macroeconomics
Biggeri and Mehrotra have studied the macroeconomic factors that
encourage child labour. They focus their study on five Asian nations including
India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. They suggest that
child labour is a serious problem in all five, but it is not a new problem.
Macroeconomic causes encouraged widespread child labour across the world, over
most of human history. They suggest that the causes for child labour include
both the demand and the supply side. While poverty and unavailability of good
schools explain the child labour supply side, they suggest that the growth of
low-paying informal economy rather than higher paying formal economy is amongst
the causes of the demand side. Other scholars too suggest that inflexible labour
market, size of informal economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack
of modern manufacturing technologies are major macroeconomic factors affecting
demand and acceptability of child labour.
Child Labour in INDIA:
In 2015, the country of India is home to the
largest number of children who are working illegally in various industrial
industries. Agriculture in India is the largest sector where many children work
at early ages to help support their family. Many of these children are
forced to work at young ages due to many family factors such as unemployment,
large families, poverty, and lack of parental education. This is often the
major cause of the high rate of child labour in India.
On 23 June 1757, the English East India Company defeated Siraj-ud-Daula,
the Nawab of
Bengal, in the Battle of Plassey. The British thus became
masters of east India (Bengal, Bihar, Orissa) – a prosperous region with a
flourishing agriculture, industry and trade. This led to many children being
forced into labour due to the increasing need of cheap labour to produce large
numbers of goods. Many multinationals often employed children because that they
can be recruited for less pay, and have more endurance to utilise in factory
environments. Another reason many Indian children were hired was because
they lack knowledge of their basic rights, they did not cause trouble or
complain, and they were often more trustworthy. The innocence that comes with
childhood was utilised to make a profit by many and was encouraged by the need
for family income. A variety of Indian social scientists as well as the non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
have done extensive research on the numeric figures of child labour found in
India and determined that India contributes to one-third of Asia's child labour
and one-fourth of the world's child labour. Due to many children being
illegally employed, the Indian government began to take extensive actions to
reduce the number of children working, and to focus on the importance of
facilitating the proper growth and development of children.] International
influences help to encourage legal actions to be taken in India, such as the
Geneva Declaration of the Right of Children Act was passed in 1924. This act
was followed by The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948 to which incorporated the basic human rights and
needs of children for proper progression and growth in their younger years. These
international acts encouraged major changes to the workforce in India which
occurred in 1986 when the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was put
into place. This act prohibited hiring children younger than the age of 14, and
from working in hazardous conditions.
Due to the increase of regulations and legal restrictions on
child labour, there has been a 64 percent decline in child labour from
1993–2005. Although this is a great decrease in the country of India, there is
still high numbers of children working in the rural areas of India. With 85
percent of the child labour occurring in rural areas,
and 15 percent occurring in urban areas,
there are still substantial areas of concern in the country of India. India has
legislation since 1986 which allows work by children in non-hazardous industry.
In 2013, the Punjab and Haryana High Court gave a landmark order that directed
that there shall be a total ban on the employment of children up to the age of
14 years, be it hazardous or non-hazardous industries. However, the Court ruled
that a child can work with his or her family in family based trades/occupations,
for the purpose of learning a new trade/craftsmanship or vocation.
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