International Laws on Child Labour: A Review

This essay reviews various international laws developed to prevent the issue of child labour. It discusses the International Labour Organization, different international conventions, and national laws. The essay also highlights the issues with the implementation of these laws and their practical enforcement.

Law
Running Head: Law 0
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Student’s Name

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Child labour refers to a situation where children employed in a business or industry, which is
illegal according to the law of a nation and such employment, is harmful for the physical and
mental development of children1. With the passing of time and development of industrialization,
the issue is spreading it is roots in the society and being a matter of concern on the international
level. Almost every nation is facing the issue of child labour and has developed laws to prevent
this issue. Not only at the national level but on an international level also, many of the laws and
regulations related to this issue have been made and developed over a period. According to the
International Labour Organization, 218 million children are there in the world, which are
involved in a certain kind of employment, out of which 152 million children are a victim of child
labour2. In the presented essay, the focus will be made upon various international laws developed
to prevent the issue of child labour. These laws have certain issues that will also be discussed in
this essay by developing a focus on different nations. In conjunction with this, other terms
related to child labour such as International labour organizations will also be discussed
hereunder. The purpose to develop this essay is to review and understand that which laws are
dealing with the concern of Child labour on an international level and what issues these laws
have.
While making a study on child labour on an international level and laws governing the same, the
discussion is also important to include the term named International Labour Organization. The
International Labour organization (hereinafter referred as ILO) is a united nation agency, which
1 Humanium.org, ‘Child Labour: definition’ < https://www.humanium.org/en/child-labour-definition/> accessed 30
November 2018
2 Ewelina U. Ochab, ‘Towards Eradication Of Child Labor’ (Forbes.com, 11 June 2018)
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2018/06/11/towards-eradication-of-child-labor/#24adecc72cec>
accessed 30 November 2018

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set International Labour Standards3. The lead motive of the organization is to promote decent and
equal employment opportunities and rights at work. If to talk about the focus areas of this
organization, this is to mention that some of the lead areas of focus are health and safety at work,
equality and discrimination, child labour and so on. ILO made significant efforts to prevent and
abolish the issue of child labour and developed conventions on this topic. These conventions are
further discussed in this essay. In conjunction with the conventions, ILO also created an
international programme on elimination/abolition of child labour in the year 19924. The
programme is currently operating in 88 countries and focusing on other aspects such as education
and health of children apart from addressing the issue of child labour only5.
Moving the focus towards laws covering child labour internationally, this is to be stated that
many of the laws are there that deal with this issue. These laws not only include the legislation
but also include international conventions and treaties that different nations have attended and
signed. Following are some of the international conventions that provide a good base of
international law on the issue of child labour. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a
necessary law to discuss here, which has been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
in the year 19896. 150 states have ratified this convention7. According to the provisions of article
32 of the convention, the states are required to take proper measures to ensure the rights of a
child to be protected from performing a work or economic exploitation that can prove hazardous
3 Who.int, ‘International Labour Organization’ <
http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/members_partners/member_list/ilo/en/> accessed 30 November 2018
4 Raja Raja Cholan, International Program on elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)’ (IAS preparationonline.com, 26
July 2017) < https://www.iaspreparationonline.com/international-programme-elimination-child-labour-ipec/>
accessed 30 November 2018
5 James A. Gross and Lance A. Compa, Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations: International and
Domestic Perspectives (Cornell University Press 2009) 101
6 Franziska Humbert, The Challenge of Child Labour in International Law (Cambridge University Press 2009)
7 Cry.org, ‘International Legal Framework For Combating Child Labour’
<http://cry.org/resources/pdf/Kol_International_Legal_framework.pdf> accessed 30 November 2018

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to the child education or their social, moral, mental, physical, or spiritual development. Every act
carried out by children that are below the conditions prescribed by United Nation Convention is
treated as economic exploitation8. ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138 (1973) is another
international law, which deals with the issue of child labour and has been ratified by 161 member
countries, where 183 were in total. This convention provides a minimum age of
working/employment in order to abolish child labour. According to this convention, every state
has to fix a minimum age of employment9. According to the article, 2 of this convention the
minimum age cannot be as low as it affects the schooling of children, it means no state can
determine the minimum age of employment less than 15 years. Further, article 3 states that if the
nature of work is dangerous or hazardous, then the minimum age of employment must be at least
18 years10.
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work is also a significant effort to
prevent the issue of child labour. Regardless of the signing of any relevant conventions and level
of economic development, these principles are applicable to all the people of every member
state. The declaration has been adopted in the year 1998 and requires every member state to
promote the rights and principles in four categories. One of these categories is the abolition of
child labour and here the role of this declaration comes into light. Another important
international law on the issue of child labour is ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention
(NO. 182). This convention prescribes the meaning of a child and defines the same as a person
below the age of 18 years. According to the provisions of this convention, all the ratifying states
8 ohchr.org, ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ <
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx> accessed 30 November 2018
9 Loc.gov, ‘Children’s Rights: International Laws’ < https://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/international-
law.php> accessed 30 November 2018
10 Pengfei Zhang, Seafarers’ Rights in China: Restructuring in Legislation and Practice Under the Maritime Labour
Convention 2006 (Springer 2016) 79

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need to eliminate their worst kind of child labour. In addition to this, they are required to prevent
and eliminate all forms of child labour and slavery such as child prostitution, children trafficking
and use of children for illicit activities. Further, the ratifying states are required to provide the
necessary help and assistance to remove children from the worst type of child labour and for
their social integration and rehabilitation. In conjunction to the previously mentioned activities, it
is the responsibility of the ratifying states to ensure the access of basic education (for free) to
those children who are free from the worst kind/form of child labour. ILO Labour Inspection
(Agriculture) Convention No. 129 (1969), ILO Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention No.
184 (2001), ILO Work in Fishing Convention No. 188 (2007) are some of the sector-wise efforts
made by ILO11.
Apart from the above conventions and declaration, efforts have been made to stop child labour
on an international level in many other forms. Through a series of national laws too, the
international community has made the efforts to deal with the issue of child labour. Both kind of
countries i.e. consumer countries and producer countries have their national laws that target
issues such as child labour and Human trafficking. UK Modern Slavery Act 201512 and Tariff
Act Of 193013 (US) are Consumer country laws, whereas, on different side countries like India,
Nepal and Afghanistan have also developed their laws being a producer country.
After the aforementioned discussion, it is very much clear that child labour is a curse, which is
not only limited up to a nation but is a matter of concern on the global level too. This is the
reason that in past international community defined this issue and developed many of the
conventions in this area. At present too, the efforts are going to continue. However, the other side
11 Ilo.org, ‘International labour standards and child labour in agriculture’ <
https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Agriculture/WCMS_172348/lang--en/index.htm> accessed 30November 2018
12 UK Modern Slavery Act 2015
13 Tariff Act Of 1930

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of the coin is also necessary to check, which is the success of these laws. Many of the issues are
there with the application of these laws and this is the reason that they have not proven as
successful as they were expected to be. Every county of the world has signed and ratified at least
one of the human right agreement if UN. For instance, Canada has ratified the Minimum age
convention in June 2016 and cause of the same the minimum age of employment is going to set
as 15 years in Canada with effect from June 201714. The forces behind the same were NGOs of
the nation and international organizations. According to them, Canada was required to take a step
against child labour. On the different side, Labour Minister stated that there would be no change
in the economy after the ratification of this convention as the issue of child labour do not existed
in Canada15. The issues with international laws on Child labour is the expectations of people.
Many of the people expect too much from these laws and think that the same will lead to very
positive results in society. On the different side, many of the other take the implication of these
laws as a waste of time. In this way, there is always a conflict in the opinions of various
institutions and the focus of the laws diverts to such conflicts.
Further, it has been seen that nations, which have Non-democracies system are more comfortable
to comply with these laws including human rights agreements, and other nations often ignore the
same. Conflict of international laws with domestic laws of the nation is another issue with the
implementation of these laws. Different countries have their different national laws and
sometimes the situation arises where complying with both of them is not possible. This is the
significant issues with international laws. Apart from this, these laws do not provide proper guide
14 Firstcallbc.org, ‘Canada ratifies ILO Convention 138 – Minimum working age goes up to 15’ <
https://firstcallbc.org/news/canada-ratifies-ilo-convention-138-minimum-working-age-goes-up-to-15/> accessed
30November 2018
15 Jana von Stein, International agreements to prohibit child labor don’t always work. Here’s why
(washingtonpost.com7 July 2016) < https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/07/do-
human-rights-treaties-matter-heres-the-story-on-child-labor-agreements/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3aeeeaee19e5>
accessed 30 November 2018

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sometimes and therefore the business of the states, which ratified the conventions, are not able to
comply with these laws. For instance, businesses are not aware that what exactly they need to do
to address the worst forms of child labour. Further, they are not aware that what they need to do
in respect of reporting. In a summaries way, this is to be stated that implementation of global
laws on a local level creates so many hurdles as different nations have different social and
economic conditions that are necessary to be helpful to comply with each international law
(conventions as well as treaties). Different countries face different issues with these laws.
Following are some of the examples where countries have faced issues with these laws.
According to the definition provided by UNICEF, a work will only be treated as child labour if
the same poses a danger/risk to cognitive, physical, psychological, and social development.
However, in Kenya, some of the industries are there which consist as dangerous chemicals as a
working of even half an hour can lead many hazardous impacts to the health of children, but
according to UNICEF, the same is not a part of child labour. UNICEF failed to provide
maximum hours of working for children.
Similarly, in case of Pakistan, the nation has ratified both the ILO conventions and also signed
Declaration of the Rights of Child, yet the issue of child labour exist in a significant volume in
this nation. The reason behind the same is other factors, which are needed to be there to support
the international laws, are missing in the country. Without having proper measures, a law cannot
expect to be implemented. The practical enforcement of the provisions of these international
legislations and conventions are still missing in Pakistan16. In Sialkot, the child labour exists at it
is the peak. The reason is that international laws cannot be applied as the supporting structure is
missing. The problem is not limited up to the countries like Kenya or Pakistan, but all the nations
16 Asif Khan, ‘Implementing Laws Against Child Labor: A Case Study of Pakistan’ (Papers.ssrn.com 3 August
2011) < https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1904268> accessed 30 November 2018

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who do not have a logical base to support the international laws, cannot get rid of the issue of
child labour ever. For instance, ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention demands to
provide free basic education to children, but nations cannot comply with the same until unless a
good education system exists there. Hence, to conclude that many of the issues are there with the
implementation of international laws concerning child labour and therefore nations need to
develop supporting factors in order to bring a success of the signed conventions and treaties.
To conclude the topic, this is to be stated that child labour is a huge concern at present and in
addition to the national law, many international laws are there to deal with the issue. In the
presented essay, the discussion and focus have been drawn to these laws. Further, in addition to
this, the issues have also been discussed that various countries face while complying with these
laws. These issues are the reason that these laws have not been a great success and even after
many years of implementation, countries are facing the issue of child labour. The issue is of
implementation majorly present in developing countries as proper measures are not there. In
conclusion, countries are advised to adopt a measure that is more specific if they truly want to
abolish the subjective issue. In addition to the individual nations, international communities are
also responsible to address the practical issues that member states face. Countries need to
understand the dangerous impact of child labour and therefore are advised to not only ratify the
agreements and conventions but also to comply with the same. International Labour organization
is there which is continuously making efforts by setting the standards in the area of child labour
and it can be expected that the issue can be resolved by the collective efforts of members states.

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Bibliography
Legislation
Tariff Act Of 1930
UK Modern Slavery Act 2015
Books/journals
Gross J A and Compa L A, Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations: International
and Domestic Perspectives (Cornell University Press 2009)
Humbert F, The Challenge of Child Labour in International Law (Cambridge University Press
2009)
Zhang P, Seafarers’ Rights in China: Restructuring in Legislation and Practice Under the
Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (Springer 2016)
Other Resources
Asif Khan, ‘Implementing Laws Against Child Labor: A Case Study of Pakistan’
(Papers.ssrn.com, 3 August 2011) < https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?
abstract_id=1904268> accessed 30 November 2018
Cry.org, ‘International Legal Framework For Combating Child Labour’
<http://cry.org/resources/pdf/Kol_International_Legal_framework.pdf> accessed 30 November
2018

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Ewelina U. Ochab, ‘Towards Eradication Of Child Labor’ (Forbes.com, 11 June 2018)
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2018/06/11/towards-eradication-of-child-labor/
#24adecc72cec> accessed 30 November 2018
Firstcallbc.org, ‘Canada ratifies ILO Convention 138 – Minimum working age goes up to 15’ <
https://firstcallbc.org/news/canada-ratifies-ilo-convention-138-minimum-working-age-goes-up-
to-15/> accessed 30November 2018
Humanium.org, ‘Child Labour: definition’ < https://www.humanium.org/en/child-labour-
definition/> accessed 30 November 2018
Ilo.org, ‘International labour standards and child labour in agriculture’ <
https://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Agriculture/WCMS_172348/lang--en/index.htm> accessed
30November 2018
Jana von Stein, International agreements to prohibit child labor don’t always work. Here’s why
(washingtonpost.com7 July 2016) <
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/07/07/do-human-rights-treaties-
matter-heres-the-story-on-child-labor-agreements/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3aeeeaee19e5>
accessed 30 November 2018
Loc.gov, ‘Children’s Rights: International Laws’ <
https://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/international-law.php> accessed 30 November 2018
ohchr.org, ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ <
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx> accessed 30 November 2018
Raja Raja Cholan, International Program on elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)’ (IAS
preparationonline.com, 26 July 2017) < https://www.iaspreparationonline.com/international-
programme-elimination-child-labour-ipec/> accessed 30 November 2018

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Who.int, ‘International Labour Organization’ <
http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/members_partners/member_list/ilo/en/> accessed 30
November 2018