Children have been exploited for hundreds of years. Although outlawed in most countries today child labour continues to deprive children of their basic rights. Here you can read about the history, causes and consequences of child labour.  

History of child labour

In 19^th Century UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand children were commonly used as cheap labour in mills, factories, mines, workshops and wealthy homes.

Campaigning by social reform movements in the UK led to the Factory Act 1883, the Mine Act 1842 and another Factory Act 1867. These acts regulated working hours, protected young children and improved working conditions. Compulsory education introduced by the Education Act in 1870, further limited child exploitation.

Similar laws were passed in most States of the USA, New Zealand and in the Canadian and Australian colonies. In 20th Century, growing awareness worldwide led the International Labour Organization (ILO – an agency of the United Nations) developing standards for the protection of children. This introduced minimum working ages, including in agriculture through convention No. 10 of 1921. The ILO later adopted the comprehensive minimum age convention 138 and identified Worst Forms of Child Labour in convention 182. Almost all countries now have laws which set a minimum age for working. However these laws are not always enforced and the exploitation of millions of children continues.

Numbers of children

It is not known exactly how many children throughout the world are employed in some form of economic activity. The latest estimates (2004) by the International Labour Organization (ILO) put the number of working children, between the ages of 5 to 17 years old, at 218 million.

One in twelve children involved in worst forms of child labour

Among them 126 million children, one in every twelve children in the world, are subjected to the worst forms of child labour. This means a child’s physical, mental or moral well-being is harmed by the work.

Though very grim indeed these figures represent an improvement on previously available data: in 2000 the number of child labourers was estimated at 246 million while 176 million of these children were engaged in activities defined as the worst forms of child labour. Over four years the number of child labourers decreased by 11%, and the number of children in hazardous work decreased by 26%. These newer estimates suggest an encouraging trend.

Regional disparities pronounced

However, regional disparities are very pronounced. While Latin America and the Caribbean made the greatest progress (less than 2/3 of their children working), in Sub-Saharan Africa one out of every four (26%) children is involved in child labour.

Among the 218 million child labourers it is not clear how many are involved in tobacco production. However there does appear to be a correlation between major tobacco growing countries are those who have high records of child labour. Determining the extent of the problem is one of the aims of the ECLT Foundation.

Causes of child labour

Poverty is a major factor in the use of child labour; families on or below the poverty line need their children to work to supplement their household’s meagre income. However, addressing poverty is only part of the answer in tackling child labour.

There are many other factors that conspire to drive children into employment, none of which is unique to any one country or any one family’s circumstances. Only when we fully understand these reasons can we begin to address the problems associated with child labour:

• Cuts in social spending – particularly education and the health services – have a direct impact on poverty. With little or no access to schooling, children are forced into employment at an early age in order to survive.
• Child labour may not be recognised as an issue when children work as part of the family unit. This is particularly common in agriculture, where an entire family may have to work to meet a particular quota or target and cannot afford to employ outside help.
• Children may also be expected to act as unpaid domestic servants in their own home, taking care of the family’s needs while both parents work.
• Parents may effectively “sell” their children in order to repay debts or secure a loan.
• The prevalence of AIDS throughout many developing countries has resulted in an enormous number of orphans who are forced to become their own breadwinners.
• The demand for cheap labour by contractors means that children are often offered work in place of their parents. With narrow margins contractors, such as produce-growers and loom-owners, know that children can be exploited and forced to work for much less than the minimum wage.
• Children may also be sent into hazardous jobs in favour of parents, who feel they cannot afford the time or money to become ill or injured.
• Child soldiers are forcibly enlisted into military service and operations.
• Employers often justify the use of children by claiming that a child’s small, nimble hands are vital to the production of certain products such as hand-knotted carpets and delicate glassware.
• The international sex trade places great value on child prostitutes. Girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are kidnapped from their homes (or sold) to networks of child traffickers supplying overseas markets; poverty and sexual and racial discrimination also drive children into the tourist sex trade.
• Young workers are unaware of their rights and less likely to complain or revolt. In many countries the legislation is simply not effective enough to support young workers.

Consequences for children

Child labour deprives children of their education, and their mental and physical development.  It robs them of their playtime and steals their childhood. Immature and inexperienced child labourers may be completely unaware of the short and long term risks involved in their work.

Working long hours, child labourers are often denied a basic school education, normal social interaction, personal development and emotional support from their family. On top of this, children face physical danger and sometimes even death:

• Physical injuries and mutilations are caused by badly maintained machinery on farms and in factories, machete accidents in plantations, and hazards encountered in industries such as mining, ceramics and fireworks manufacture.
• Pesticide poisoning is one of the biggest killers of child labourers. In Sri Lanka, pesticides kill more children than diphtheria, malaria, polio and tetanus combined. The global death toll each year from pesticides is estimated at 40,000.
• Growth deficiency is prevalent among working children, who tend to be shorter and lighter than other children; these deficiencies also impact on their adult life.
• Long-term health problems, such as respiratory disease, asbestosis and a variety of cancers, are common in countries where children are forced to work with dangerous chemicals.
• HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are rife among the one million children forced into prostitution every year; pregnancy, drug addiction and mental illness are also common among child prostitutes.
• Exhaustion and malnutrition result when underdeveloped children have to perform heavy manual labour, work long hours in difficult conditions and don’t earn enough to feed themselves adequately.