Child Labor - Facts About Child Labour

We have been hearing the term 'Child Labour' since we ourselves were child. But I think STILL we have not been able to get the soul and pain of this term right!

So forgetting the soul of it, we will first try to find the answer of WHAT IS CHILD LABOUR?

The most simple and comprehensive answer could be of 'What is Child Labour?':

“Child labour means employment for children that harms them whether physically, morally, mentally or exploit them in any way, or block their education process.”

Although there is not any proper and accepted definition found of ‘Child Labour’ anywhere in this so called ‘Civilized World’.

Another important point to be noted here is that general ‘International Conventions’ define a child who has aged under 18. (Although, individual governments may define “child” according to different criteria)

So there adds one more criteria to define Child labor.

“Child labor means employment for children, that are aged under 18, that harms them whether physically, morally, mentally or exploit them in any way, or block their education process.”

Now as we got cleared with the definition of ‘Child Labor’, I would like to post some statistics about child labor, which I gathered from different sources, and specially the UNICEF website.

1. Approximately 158 MILLION children are estimated to be working as child labour.

2. This figure reveals the fact that about 1 in 6 children, is supposed to be a child labour.

3. Millions of children are engaged in various types of work that are simply unacceptable, as they are really dangerous, hazardous and catastrophic. These types of work include:

· Working in mines

· Working with pesticides and chemicals in agricultural sector

· Working with really dangerous machineries.

· Being exploited as domestic servants. Moreover, the amount of child labor in the form of domestic servants, who are engaged in doing household chores and are burdened by their masters and abused at the same time, are more of girls as compared to boys.

4. Millions of girls have been the victim of child labor in the form of domestic servants, and are more likely to be exposed to exploitations and abuse, including sexual harassment.

5. In Sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 1 in 3 children, is engaged in child labors which represent around 69 million children.

6. In South Asia, another 44 million children approximately are engaged as child labors.

These child labours are most likely to be found in rural areas and where poverty has its own grounds. The governments and the concerned authorities do not pay much attention to this rising menace, and many children have been kept depriving from some of their very basic rights, and many more to come, will suffer the same disaster, as the authorities and administrations still not doing the desired homework to uproot this ever-developing plague. These children have been deprived from one of their most basic right EDUCATION, and this will result in more child labor, when these children will have their younger generations under their family tree, as the upcoming generation will be forced to follow their forefathers’ footsteps. EDUCATION PROBLEMS IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES include an important factor of ‘Child Labour’.

I firmly believe that educating these children will significantly help in mitigating the problem of child labor from our societies. These children will earn much more after getting education, these children will be respected, their parents will feel proud of it and all these things will eventually motivate other child labors to follow the same steps. But the key will still be in sincerity, dedication and honesty towards the betterment of these children’s future, of which the governments, institutions and international administrations seemed to lack interest. Ensuring that every child goes to school and also get quality education, enough at least to change the mind-set of these child labors and that of the society as well, will play a key role in mitigating the menace of “CHILD LABOUR”.