Child labour is defined as a situation wherein children are forced to go to work and are relentlessly exploited through various kinds of activities, this situation ends up depriving the children of a normal childhood. Children under child labour are more often than not stopped from pursuing an education, they are put to work in bad environments which are extremely harmful to their physical health and hygiene. Due to their unhealthy work environments, the children end up with all kinds of illnesses and no method of cure. The ILO (International Labour Organization) defines child labour as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.” (Ilo.org, 2021)
Child labour comes in many forms, from children working in the mines to domestic work and even recruiting them for armed conflict. Child trafficking also plays a major role in increasing the already abundant child workforce, trafficked children are usually ‘enslaved’ and are forced into various forms of labour, this could include using them to conduct illicit activities such as production and/or trafficking of drugs or even prostitution or child pornography.
This form of labour is beneficial to many organizations as it comes under cheap labour, all of these children are forced to work countless hours just for a few pennies. Since these children come from poverty struck backgrounds, they have no choice but to work for their meals. Many huge companies such as Nestle, Hershey and Mars had previously pledged that they would stop using cocoa from farms that endorsed child labour, but it’s come to light that their promises were all empty. In an article by ‘The Washington Post’ they interviewed the children on these farms, one of them, Abou said, “I came here to go to school, I haven’t been to school for five years now.” (Washpostvisuals, 2019) He was stuck on the farm and closely watched by the senior farmers. Many children have been trapped the same way on these West African Fields by companies who follow capitalistic ideologies.
While child labour is on an incline as a result of the pandemic, there are initiatives and projects being put into place by people all around the world to try and curb this problem. According to the ILO “The CLEAR Cotton project supports the elimination of child labour and forced labour in the cotton, textile and garment value chains in target producing countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Pakistan, and Peru).” (Ilo.org, 2021). The ‘CLEAR Cotton’ Project by the International Labour Organization focuses on children working in cotton plantations, the kind of work done in these fields is extremely deteriorating towards these children’s physical health and should be immediately removed from that situation. After these children are removed from the unsafe environment, they are put back into schools and given an education. The project was set to run over the course of four years, from the March of 2018 till February 2022. In India, a human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner by the name of Kailash Satyarthi has been working tirelessly against the exploitation of children for financial gain. “The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) has created a highly economical and sustainable model of work, a systemic model that promotes children’s interests through community development.” (Alok Institute, 2021) His aim is to create child-friendly villages which helps the children grow intellectually while providing their families with some kind of economic aid.
The effects of this labour are deteriorating to the children’s mental and physical well-being, no child should have their childhood stripped away from them. A change needs to be made.
Reflection
I learned a lot through the process of this research. The fact that it was a visual essay was new and interested me, I think of myself as a visual learner and the whole idea of having to portray my research in the form of Images was really exciting. I learnt a lot about my research topic, ‘Child Labour’ it was honestly shocking as to how oblivious I was when it came to identifying companies that endorsed child labour. Most of my favourite stores and brands have been called out on their blatant disregard for the employment of children in their fields and factories. It really opened my eyes to the horrors a child faces in these situations, our lives have been extremely sheltered and nurturing and shielded us from the reality of a lot of the children in the world.
The most shocking statistic I came across was one by UNICEF, the statistic showed a detailed rise in the number of children in child labour even in this day and age. The COVID-19 pandemic has also greatly impacted the child workforce, there are now more children who are hungry and vulnerable to predators to want cheap labour. These children are being forced to go into sweatshops and earn enough to feed their families, many have been put on the streets and have had no choice but to leave their education and work. Child trafficking has to be taken more seriously, most of these children have been uprooted from their families and have been forcefully put to work.
Since there’s not much I can do to help eradicate this problem, I’ve decided that as a global citizen I will stop buying products and services from the numerous brands that still endorse this form of labour.
References
Ilo.org. (2021). What is child labour (IPEC). [online] Available at: https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang–en/index.htm
washpostvisuals (2019). Hershey, Nestle and Mars broke their pledges to end child labor in chocolate production. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/business/hershey-nestle-mars-chocolate-child-labor-west-africa/
Ilo.org. (2021). CLEAR Cotton: Eliminating child labour and forced labour in the cotton, textile and garment value chains: an integrated approach (IPEC). [online] Available at: https://www.ilo.org/ipec/projects/global/clearcotton/lang–en/index.htm
Alok Institute. (2021). Child Friendly Villages – Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation – Alok Institute. [online] Available at: https://institutoalok.org/en/child-friendly-villages/#:~:text=Kailash%20Satyarthi%20Children’s%20Foundation%20(KSCF%20hereinafter)%2C%20founded%20by%20Nobel,opportunity%20to%20realize%20their%20potential.
https://www.gfa.org/special-report/child-labor-today/
http://www.oit.org/global/docs/WCMS_797527/lang–en/index.htm
https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/bed55b3b-8f3f-4462-9363-1b61235aabe9
https://search.openverse.engineering/image/88e2797d-2eed-4da2-950b-27f83564175d
https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/8ad425e0-1faa-4b7d-8b34-ab4ccf637e0f
https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/d267b92c-4f26-4657-a725-0ef9cf0aec34
https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/9330d5dc-14c6-407e-9ab3-1eeb1f9ca3b7
https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/9e2ff2e2-adb7-4faa-a272-a7af4ab0bcdc
https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/31bdbd3a-fb84-468b-87f7-2e8470a38ceb
My BCM workshop 