Arguments for and Against Banning All Forms of Child Labour Essay

Introduction

Child labor can be defined as a set of inappropriate activities for the age of a child. This labor negatively influences children’s health, harms their physical and mental development, and distracts them from school learning and regular children’s spare time activities. International Labor Organization defines this term as a work that subtracts children from their childhood and their dignity and normal growth (International Labor Organization, 2020). However, not all work that children produce can be named child labor and is harmful to their health and emotional stability. It is essential to examine the border between safe and dangerous labor and compare arguments for and against the prohibition of all forms of child labor in manufacturing.

Safe Labor

Several types of labor refer to children’s activities. For example, children may participate in work that does not harm their development and wellness and does not affect their schooling (International Labor Organization, 2020). These can be such activities as helping parents and relatives to clean the house, helping in maintaining a family business, and other activities. In addition, the child can earn their own pocket money outside the house during his weekends or holidays. These activities facilitate the child’s mental and physical development as well as contribute to his well-being. They might give essential life skills and prepare children for their future. Therefore, this type of child labor is safe and facilitates development, as well as provides experience. The boundary is very obscure because the usage of the term “child labor” depends on the child’s age, type of work, durability, and the conditions where the work is performed.

The Worst Forms of Child Labor

These forms suggest a harmful influence of work on a child’s organism, physical appearance, and mental health. These sorts of work include children’s enslavement, separation from their parents, and is subject to serious illnesses up to death. Children that participate in this labor are often abandoned and left in the streets of cities and countries in which they were taken (International Labor Organization, 2020). Moreover, kids who managed to escape have no opportunity to return home without money, and they have to become vagabonds.

The worst forms of child labor include slavery practices and all sorts of slavery, for example, sale and trafficking (International Labor Organization, 2020). Children may be taken for various purposes, including forced labor and participation in armed conflicts and wars. Next, these forms involve children in producing pornographic activities and prostitution. Little girls and boys are forced to execute things that expose their physical and mental stability to hazard harm. Moreover, children may be involved in working with drugs and other substances. All this work affects the child’s morals and lefts an irrecoverable imprint.

Hazardous child labor can also be included in the list of worst forms of child work. This work exposes children to work under the water and ground and suggests that they take heavy weights and work with dangerous equipment and machinery in crop production, fishing manufacturing, and other types of agriculture (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020). Besides, this work can last for long hours and supposes children to work in a dangerous atmosphere. The conditions might be inappropriate even for adults, for instance, extremely high or low temperatures, levels of noise, and a harmful environment. Hazardous types of work make children subject to physical and psychological abuse.

Children in the Supply Chain

Poverty is the heaviest reason for child labor to exist even in contemporary society. Household poverty forces employers to exploit children’s resources, as manufacturing producers have no money to pay salaries to adult people (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2020). Child labor can also be a result of underemployment and unemployment and the consequence of overpopulation in the country. For instance, in Pakistan, children comprise 52 percent of all population (Javed, 2010). In this country, families often might not give proper education to their children according to the abovementioned reasons, and their children have to go to work to earn money. Pakistani children start working at the age of seven years (Javed, 2010). Many employers hire children to lower the costs of the company.

One more reason for this is fast fashion; this definition refers to the quicker update of clothes collections several times per fashion season. Companies have to produce more clothes at lower costs, so they are pushed to find cheaper sources. The supply chain needs lower-cost and fast-completed labor; the demand increases, and consumers require new production (Moulds, n.d.). In India and Bangladesh, where clothing manufacturing is concentrated, many children are exploited to produce apparel. What is more thrilling, companies give false promises to children and their parents; employers convince them to send their children to a job with a decent salary and good conditions (Moulds, n.d.). However, children are exploited there for free, working under harsh and dangerous conditions during extended hours.

Measures and Recommendations

Poverty in countries is the main reason that exposes children to work. These problems should be decided within governmental responsibilities; for example, creating new policies might improve the situation. Government should help low-income families and distribute the budget equally because insufficient funding for families forces children to work (Madslien, 2004). Families must be able to handle money difficulties without exploiting their children’s resources.

Some employers argue that children can work better than adults because children’s fingers are small and neat (Moulds, n.d.). They are seen as compliant workers who will not object to their responsibilities. However, child labor should become illegal because it makes children traumatized by their experience; therefore, companies should prohibit it. There are many reasons to ban this activity because it is seen that child labor is safe only when appropriate to their age and physical capacity. In other cases, children are exploited and acquire severe health and mental issues. Many companies prohibited child labor in their supply chains and manufacturing. The Fair Wear Foundation presented 120 brands that supported the idea of banning child labor (Moulds, n.d.). Some sources also state that companies’ owners should visit their manufacturers to prevent child exploitation cases.

There are more arguments for banning child labor in supply chains, and many countries became to support this idea. Children should not suffer because of governmental issues; they should be provided with their legal childhood. Dangerous work violates children’s rights, and governments should not forget about the importance of these rights within the country. The community and environment also must be safe for children for them to grow in safe and appropriate conditions.

Conclusion

Children are small creatures who must have childhoods with funny children’s games, schooling, friends, and parents. Children should enjoy their years without work and hazardous activities that make them physically and psychologically abused. Besides child labor being prohibited in many countries, this process should be controlled at the governmental level. Constantly growing consumer demand and required mechanisms of supply chains should not take away the childhood from those who must be in it.

Reference List

​Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2020) FAO framework on ending child labour in agriculture.

International Labor Organization (2020). What is child labour.

Javed, T. (2010)Connection between child labour & minimum wage.

Madslien, J. (2004) ‘ILO: ‘Child labour prevents development’BBC News: Business.

Moulds, J. (no date) ‘Child labour in the fashion supply chain: Where, why and what can be done’. The Guardian & UNICEF.