Child Labor Through the Human Rights Perspective

CHILD LABOR THROUGH THE HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE
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Introduction
It is irrefutable that child labor is a human rights issue, and considered as such in the
entire world. As well it should. Roughly, 250 million children between the age of 5 and 17
years are engaged in “child labor,” Even though the numbers are not verified, a huge
percentage of children work in deplorable conditions, while being brutally exploited to work
in risky jobs with little or no pay. As a result, most children end up with severe physical and
emotional abuse. In the developing countries, children can be found working in brick
workshops, plaiting carpets, large-scale fishing, and Leather factories among other risky
businesses. In addition, children can be found on the streets working as prostitutes, forced to
work as sex workers against their will. In most of the developing countries, children are
usually working as soldiers in life-threatening circumstances. Working long shifts under
detrimental conditions, regularly abused and trafficked from one country to another.1 Due to
such issues, they are not capable of obtaining proper education that can unshackle and
improve their future lives. Their health is always under threat due to years of exposure to
risky and toxic material. Most of them if they survive, end up with perpetual damages and
disabilities even before they can mature completely. The main objective of this paper is to
discuss child labor across the Human rights perspective. Moreover, we shall examine the
legal issues, the main causes, and consequences of the vice. Poverty and child labor are
equally interconnected because most poor parents compel their children to work and thus stay
out of school. As a result, such children mature up to be deprived as adults and the problem it
carried on to another generation.
Discussion
1 O'Connell Davidson, Julia. "Moving children? Child trafficking, child migration, and child rights." Critical social
policy 31, no. 3 (2011): 454-477.

The cases of abolishing child labor is important. Simply put, child labor is both a
fundamental cause and consequence of poverty, particularly in most developing countries
around the world, where there is extreme poverty and limited opportunities for adults and
lastly poor access to education. Such issues compel parents to force their children to work
against their will. Moreover, other factors such as gender and ethnicity common factors
among certain communities, as entrenched discrimination on these grounds determine
education and employment opportunities.
Child labor can be described as the recruitment of children between the age of 6 and
17 years old in any form of employment that denies them their childhood or interfere with
their capacity to join schools and that is mentally and physically destructive. The practice of
child labor is considered by many international organisations as exploitation with multiple
Laws around the world restricting such king of activities towards children .However, there
are some laws that do not view all works as exploitative2
In the academic and popular literature, child labor is often considered as harming the
most vulnerable members of the society through exploitative works. Indulging children into
early employment or in the informal sector may also damage children because work affects
the ability of a child to join a school and thus lowering human capital. Moreover, it leads to
reduced lifetime earning that can perpetuate across future generations. Hindman indicates that
child labor exists because it is considered as the most appropriate reaction people can apply
in unbearable situations.3As indicated earlier, poverty and child labor are mutually
interrelated and it has two key features .First, when financial capabilities are low, the time
between the benefits of child labor and the long-term cost of enrolling children to school
forces most impoverished families to choose the former. Second, the expenses and benefits of
2 What is child labour? International Labour Organisation. 2012. Available at:
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/langen/index.htm.
3 Hindman, Hugh D. Child labor: an American history. Routledge, 2016.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315290843 .

child labor are usually endured by different people and different levels. Targeted subsidies
are one of the most effective ways of enticing parents, especially in developing countries to
enrol their children into school because they effectively look into both of these issues4.
A rights-based approach to child labour
Despite the advancement of the child labor codes in various countries, child labor is
still a huge problem, and legalising it is going against the interests and rights of every child.
For instance, there has been so much criticism on India’s proposal to make personal below
the age of 14 years legal to work in family business with the objective of eradicating poverty.
However, the labor situation in India and many other part of the world call for nuanced
policies that would safeguards as far as possible the full rights and interests of children. This
is fundamental in light to the fact that most children often work without pay of labor
protection. It is the right of every child to be granted the right to t enjoy their young life and
pursue education.
In an effort to understand the main causes of child labor, a majority of scholars take
the position that it is as a result of poverty. Assuming that adults would full-time, Anthony
argues that children are sent to work only if the available income is not sufficient for
consumption.5 As a result, there is still a belief that an increase in income or decrease in
poverty is the most fundamental strategy for decreasing child labor. Generally, it can be said
that child labor is considered as a short-term mechanism in which families are compelled by
circumstances to get involved in during extremely challenging times. Moreover, child labor is
also associated with a lack of quality and available education and huge credit constraints
4 Dumas, Christelle. "Market imperfections and child labor." World development 42 (2013):127-142.
5 Anthony, David. The state of the world's children 2011-adolescence: an age of opportunity. United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2011.