Child Labor in the
Century
st
21
The Well-Being of Children in
The Contemporary Global System
Labor & Well-Being
► Rapid
change in the contemporary global
system clearly has its benefits
 Material well-being
 Human rights
► Just
as clearly, it has heavy costs
 Traditional means of sustenance are not
available to billions
 Jeopardy within the global economy is a serious
problem
Re-emergence of Slavery
► Because
some people are powerless and
others are willing to exploit them, a new
slavery has emerged
 Bonded workers
 Trafficking in women and children
 Illegal immigrants
Slavery Distinctions
► Chattel
Slavery
 Legal
 People held deeds to
other people
 Slaves were
investments, therefore
the slave owner had an
incentive to keep the
slave healthy
► The
New Slavery
 Illegal
 People controlled rather
than owned
 Slaves are disposable
 Continuing supply of
desperate people to
take advantage of or
parents to pay off
Examples of Child Slavery
► Boys
as soldiers, girls as “wives”
► Bonded workers who never leave the work
site
► Sex slaves, mainly but not only girls
► Domestic workers
International Labor Organization
Convention 182
► Addresses





the worst forms of child labor
Slavery
Sex work
Child soldiers
Dangerous work
Work that prevents the proper development of
children
International Approach
To Eliminating Child Labor
► Problem
cannot be overcome with policies
that are limited to domestic economies
► Global trade creates income opportunities
for people able to exploit the labor of
children
► Allowing the worst forms of child labor is
unfair competition for legitimate workers
► Only a global attack has a chance of
succeeding
Culture, Childhood & Child Labor
► In
all cultures, children work
► The issue: the types of work and conditions
of work
► Clearly in poorer countries, some families
need the income of children
► Clearly in poorer countries, some education
is a waste of time
Cultural Issues
► Who
is a child?
► What should a child be allowed (be forced?)
to do?
► How much education should be required for
all children, and how should it be funded?
► Who decides, and when is it decided, who
gets further education?
International Protection
► The
general instruments
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights,
Covenant on Civil & Political Rights
► Child
specific instruments
 Convention on the Rights of the Child
 Convention on Women’s Rights
► ILO
instruments
 Conventions 138 and 182
US Participation in the Elimination
Of Child Labor
► Thanks
to Iowa’s Senator Harkin, the US in
many ways is in the vanguard of the attack
on inappropriate child labor
► But … the US has still ratified neither the
Convention on the Rights of the Child nor
the Convention on Economic, Social &
Cultural Rights
► How about the country you are studying?
 UICHR’s Child Labor Rights Initiative