Analyzing the Ethical and Legal Implications of Child Labor in Business Transactions

Running head: BUSINESS LAW ASSIGNMENT
BUSINESS LAW ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSINESS LAW ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
Child labour refers to the employment of children in the workforce. Children however,
could be involved in various vocational activities which could be considered to form a part of the
activities of the workforce. These activities could be domestic in nature and would not be
considered child labour like when a child is involved in business activities of a family business1.
Such an activity would impart professional skills on the child and would imbibe experiences that
would prepare the child better for future professional endeavors. When a child is employed in
work that is hazardous or of a dangerous nature or subject to hazardous working conditions it
would be considered child labour. The UNCRC defines the term “child” as anyone who is under
the age of 18 years. Article 32 of the UNCRC safeguards children against exploitation and being
asked to work in hazardous work environments2.
Issue
This paper seeks to analyze the ethical and legal implications in an instance where a
company EWOFL transacts with a South American company called Guevara for chocolate. This
company manufactures chocolates in their farms and these farms allegedly employ child labour
for their manufacturing process. The theory of utilitarianism states that the best course of action
for a corporation is one which maximizes utility. This gives equal importance to the interests of
all the parties that are a part of the circumstances.
1 Hindman, Hugh D. Child labor: an American history. Routledge, 2016.
2 Hugh D Hindman and Hugh Hindman, The World Of Child Labor (Taylor and Francis 2014).

2BUSINESS LAW ASSIGNMENT
Rule
ILO Convention No. 138 prescribes the minimum age for full-time employment as 15. It
further states that in developing countries the minimum age for employment would be 14.
Children aged 12 and 13 may also be employed but the work should be light and should not have
a detrimental effect on their education3.
UNCRC article 28 also necessitates that any kind of engagement that the child has should
not affect the child’s education in anyway4.
Employment of children as part of the workforce also has various ethical ramifications.
The first ethical issue is that subjecting a child to work under hazardous or dangerous conditions
would have undesirable effects on the child’s physical and mental health. The second issue is
that such engagement would have a negative effect on the child’s educational activities this
would be against the basic human rights as dictated by the UN Human Rights Council
(UNHRC)5. The third ethical issue is that there are minimum wage prescriptions in all
jurisdictions as an employer must adequately pay his workforce, however in employing children
the labour cost would be significantly lower and thus it would be unethical6. The utilitarianism
theory refers to the maximum utility for all the stakeholders however the children employed and
their families also form a part of this and they do not derive any utility from the present situation.
3 Keith Abbott, N Pendlebury and Kevin Wardman, Business Law (Cengage Learning 2013).
4 Harcourt, Deborah, and Solveig Hägglund. "Turning the UNCRC upside down: A bottom-up perspective on
children's rights." International Journal of Early Years Education 21.4 (2013): 286-299.
5 Ramcharan, Bertrand G. The UN human rights council. Routledge, 2013.
6 Kennedy, Evan T., Claude E. Welch, and Mahmood Monshipouri. "Multinational corporations and the ethics of
global responsibility: Problems and possibilities." Human Rights and Corporations. Routledge, 2017. 123-147.