Child Labour vs Poverty: A Debate on the Worse Condition for Children

This report examines the issues related to child labour and poverty, debating on which condition is worse for children. It discusses the benefits and drawbacks of child labour, the challenges in enforcing a ban, and provides recommendations for addressing the issue. The report explores the impact of child labour on children's physical and mental health, as well as the social and economic factors contributing to the problem. It also highlights the organizational challenges faced in enforcing a ban on child labour, particularly in the global supply chain. The report concludes with recommendations for governments and businesses to address the issue effectively.

INDIVIDUAL REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY :
Child labour is defined as the when children work in their childhood which is
considered to be bad for their physical and mental health. Poverty is that state or condition of the
individuals which states that the person lacks any financial resource to even satisfy the simple
human needs. It is considered by some people that child labour is a better condition to be in than
poverty.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY :...........................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Issues related to child labour and poverty....................................................................................1
For Child labour argument...........................................................................................................1
Children working is beneficial for them......................................................................................1
Argument against child labour.....................................................................................................2
Social economic legal and organizational challenges for enforcing ban on child labour............2
Recommendations........................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Child labour is considered to be that work which deprives children into working for more
than exceeding number of hours. Due to child labour the children get affected mentally,
physically and also socially (Simone, Verdoodt and Leiser, 2019). Child labour is considered
very bad for the children as they can get affected harmfully and its also interferes with their
school life. In this topic the issues related to child labour and poverty is examined. This project is
a debate on which is the worse condition for a child to be in. This project will help in
understanding whether working as a child is beneficial enough for them and their family. In this
project the possible alternatives about child labour is discussed.
MAIN BODY
Issues related to child labour and poverty
Some issues with child labour in an economy is that it is considered to be exploitation of
the national economy(Krauss, 2017). Child labour is considered to be a negative aspect of the
life of the children who, due to child labour miss out on their childhood, necessary education and
it also affects their mental health. Some issues with poverty is that it is more than just a lack of
income and necessitates. This creates a negative impact on the mind of the people in poverty as
there are limited to food, education, health and also are socially discriminated. Due to this they
feel left out of the society chose the path of crime to satisfy their needs.
For Child labour argument
There are some children which work just so that they can come out of a even greater
poverty. For families which are in poverty there child's income is something that provide them
food and shelter for living. The chances of the survival of these families increase when their
children work and support their family. Child labour is wrong but simply stopping the child
labour can also stop the support they get. Stopping child labour without any alternative can put
the child into other even more harmful trouble.
Children working is beneficial for them
It has been found out that not all the children who are working are engaged in child
labour. There are some places were the children work for limited hours and also get their
schooling without having any negative effect on their mental health. For such children working
after a certain age is not as bad as it is considered provided they are paid fairly (Chakrabortty,
1

Roy and Roy, 2021). It has been seen that some children which work for assisting their families
also gain positive experience which helps them in the future.
Argument against child labour
Child labour causes effects on the mental and physical health of the children this happens
as they have to spend their lives working when it's the time for their studies. The increase in
trade openness has increased the child labour in many economies. This has happened because
poor children are easy and cheaply available and the increase in open trade has made it very hard
for the authorities to trace these activities. Global supply chain is very complex and it is very
hard for monitoring child labour. Children are the responsibility of their parents but in some
countries the economic condition is so poor that the families sell their children to farmers and
miners for working as child labour. Governments and businesses which do not think about the
poverty and the child labour practices are also needed to be held responsible. It is important for
the companies to understand were there products are coming from and who are making it, as it is
against the CSR of companies to have children work for their production (Faridi, 2020).
Social economic legal and organizational challenges for enforcing ban on child labour
Banning or partial banning of child labour is considered many countries. However, these
countries are faced up with challenges while enforcing the ban. Social economic legal challenges
are that some families are so poor that they cannot even afford necessities for themselves like
food, shelter, medics etc. These families when left with no alternatives consider child labour of
financial contribution. Banning child labour create even worse living conditions for these such
children. Those who support these ideas argue that such children can benefit from creating a safe
workplace. Some organizational challenges which affects the banning of child labour is that there
are certain organization whose production depends on the children working in other countries.
Many fashion companies are relying on the products from the third world countries where
children work for them. This helps the business of these companies as their cost of production
becomes very low (VirMahajan, 2021).
Recommendations
It has been understood that child labour is very damaging for the children, emotionally,
physically and also affects their education. Due to this many economies have considered banning
of child labour. The issues to that is there are children which belong to families which are in
poverty. In poverty their financial condition is so poor that they cannot afford necessities like
2

food, shelter etc. So the child work is considered important for them. For governments, it is
important to provide these families other type of support so that their children will not have to
work or there should be proper guidelines which workplace need to follow for taking work from
children.
CONCLUSION
With the help of this project it can be concluded that child labour is not as bad as being in
poverty. In this project argument has been made both against and favour of the child labour. This
project explain who is responsible for the supply chain of child labour in international market.
This project provides recommendations on how the child labour can be banned or partially
banned by following certain methods.
3

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chakrabortty, S., Roy, N.J. and Roy, S.S., 2021. Measuring Child Labour: The Indian
Scenario. Journal of Quantitative Economics. 19(1). pp.67-85.
Faridi, A.G., 2020. Child Labour in a Pastoral Tribe of Jammu and Kashmir: Impact of Spatiality
Within a State of Conflict. In Child Labor in the Developing World (pp. 227-266).
Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
Krauss, A., 2017. Understanding child labour beyond the standard economic assumption of
monetary poverty. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 41(2). pp.545-574.
Simone, V.D.H., Verdoodt, V. and Leiser, M.R., 2019. Child labour and online protection in a
world of influencers. Available at SSRN 3458379.
VirMahajan, D., 2021. ANALYTICAL STUDY IN PROBLEM FACED BY CHILD LABOUR
IN INDIAN SOCIETY. Ilkogretim Online. 20(3).
Online
Ind Psychiatry J., 2018. Challenges and perspectives of child labour.[Online] Available trough:
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198592/>
4