Child Labor

Child labor is a serious problem in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries. Labor is defined as physical or mental work especially of the hard or fatiguing kind. (Websters Dictionary) Child labor usually means work that is done by children under the age of 15, which restricts or damages their physical, emotional, intellectual, social, or spiritual growth as children. The International Labor organization estimates that there are 250 million children worldwide, between the ages of 5 and 14, who are now working. Africa and Asia together account for over 90 percent of total child employment (Faraaz Siddiqi) Child labor is especially common in the rural areas of these countries. Usually there are no age requirements for schooling or for work. There are many reasons that these children work; poverty, lack of education, lack of knowledge of ones rights and cultural tradition are all contributing factors. These children are often working in severe and hazardous conditions. These children are deprived and mistreated. They are often beat or severely punished for making even the slightest mistakes. They receive low wages and perform tasks that are usually the work of adults. The There are many different organizations here in America that try to raise awareness about child labor. Children are sent to work to help support their families who might be in such desperate conditions that even the meager salary the children receive will help For example; minors in Paraguay contribute almost a quarter of the total family income. (Siddiqi) Many times the lack of education by both the parents and the children are major contributors to the number of child workers. Asia is led by India, which has 44 million child laborers, giving it the largest child work force in the world. " At least half of these children are under the age of 10. Bonding is also a common practice in Pakistan and the children often regard it as a right of passage into adulthood. A worker can also enter into bondage to their employer by requesting an advance on future wages they expect to earn. Many families raise their daughters solely to take over the household duties in order to release the mother. International Labour Office reports that children work the longest hours and are the worst paid of all laborers. The first type involves a child inheriting a debt carried by their parents. Child Labor in Pakistan"Pakistan has recently passed laws greatly limiting child labor and indentured servitude- but those laws are universally ignored, and some 11 million children, aged four to fourteen, keep the country"tms factories operating, often working in brutal and squalid conditions. In all these cases the debt is consistently increased to a sum beyond the capacity of the worker. Early in this decade the Pakistan National Assembly enacted two laws meant to curb such practices. Even if laws restricting child labor do exist in these countries, the people are virtually unaware of their rights as well as their children"tms rights. In India, people of

the lower caste system are expected to perform manual labor, and are therefore even less likely to attend school.

Child Labour In Pakistan

Child Labour is a condemnable phenomenon and elimination of child labour is a feasible objective. It must be eradicated altogether, for democratic and healthy growth of the society. Children should grow into adulthood through love and care, education and training. Health of the society depends upon the physical, moral and spiritual development of its children.

The awareness of the problem provided basis for the enactment of the Employment of Children Act, 1991 followed by a number of administrative and other initiatives to address the issue of child labour effectively. Struggle against child labour gained further momentum when Pakistan's trade privileges were adversely affected with the filing of cases against the country before the United States Trade Representative and subsequently before the European Commission by AFL-CIO in 1993 and ICFTU in 1995, respectively on the allegation of widespread incidence of child and bonded labour. nd legislative commitment against child labour was more expressly and articulately pronounced in signing ILO-IPEC Memorandum of Understanding on June 21,1994. ILO-IPEC Action Plan in Pakistan formalized activities against child labour and a concerted and coordinated effort by Governmental Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Trade Unions, employers' bodies and other organizations was initiated. Ground breaking work by ILO-IPEC in developing the strategies and models had an awareness and demonstration effect. A path has now been paved for a future comprehensive and integrated strategy and plan of action by launching prominent sectoral projects like in soccer ball, carpet manufacturing and surgical instruments. Efforts at individual level are also being made elsewhere. Government of Pakistan in order to crystallize and systematize its programme against child labour constituted a Task Force on Child Labour, consisting of Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis as...

Child labour Seventy-three million children ages ten to fourteen are working illegally in the world today. That makes up 11.2 percent of the population ages ten to fourteen. The purpose of this essay is to show you the shocking details of how children are exploited in underdeveloped countries.

Why are these children working in the first place? The children are working for many reasons. In most cases people would think that these children are forced into working; Although in some cases children go to work because their family is extremely poor and they feel they need to help get money. In other cases these children are physically forced into doing the work that no one else will. In other cases a child's family could all die or just plane out leave him and they will be adopted and forced to do the work. Some children get sold to a manufacture and they are forced into working. Most of these children have no choice but to work. These children aren't always forced into doing all this work. That dose not mean that they like the work it means that the family might need the money or they might have no where else to go. Some of these children work for simple room and board. In the countries that are overrun with Why do these people make these children work? Is it because they cant afford to pay people minimum wage or is it just because they re too cheap to pay minimum wage. The purpose of this essay was to show people how the children in underdeveloped countries are treated and forced into working. What do some of these children do for work. Most of these kids work in the industrial area. Textiles, carpets, clothing, and footwear are the most common places where these children are forced to work. Boys are usually working the machines that make products. Girls work as maids and house cleaners for rich people. Both of these jobs come with enormous tasks for the children. Nike is one of the biggest manufacturers of sports products in the world they have been caught using child labour and astonishing 30 times. A clothing line of Kathy lee Giffords has been busted for using children to make its K-Mart clothing line. with child labour are filled with a high poverty level. These children have no choice but to go and work because if they dont they will starve and die. Child labour for these children is survival,there are no other chances for them. None of these children have the privilege of going to school and being able to go to a house at the end of a day. Most of these children work from the crack of dawn and dont stop working till late into the night. The main fact of all this is that if these childr