Committee on the Rights of a Child Catherine Lee
Novice
Topic B: Use of Child Labour
Introduction
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the body of 18 independent experts
that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and two Optional
Protocols to the Convention: involvement of children in armed conflict (OP-AC), and sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography (OP-SC).
CRC advocates for the protection of children’s rights, helps meet their basic needs and
provides them the opportunities to reach their full potential by setting up minimum entitlements and
freedoms that should be respected by governments, as listed in the Convention. CRC examines each
report submitted by all of the States parties, and addresses its concerns and recommendations in the
form of ‘concluding observations’. It also publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions on thematic issues
and organizes days of general discussion. The Committee has released general comments on subjects including: The aims of
education, Treatment of unaccompanied and separated children outside their country of origin, The rights of children with
disabilities, and Children’s rights in Juvenile Justice.
The Committee has no coercive powers, but its observations and recommendations are not acted on by governments, it
can make a critical observation in the subsequent report. Countries are obligated under the Convention to circulate the
Committee’s reports widely, and any failing are likely to attract negative local and international publicity.
Background
Child labour refers to the employment of children in any dangerous or harmful work that deprives children of their
childhood and interferes with their ability to attend regular school. It contains at least one of the following characteristics: violates
a nation’s minimum age laws; threatens children’s physical, mental, or emotional well-being; involves intolerable abuse such as
child slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, or illicit activities; prevents children from going to school; uses
children to undermine labour standards. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations. Legislations
across the world prohibit child labour. However, in developing countries with high poverty and poor schooling opportunities,
child labour is still prevalent.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument of 54 articles to incorporate
the full range of human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. All children must contain basic human rights,
and further protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation. The four core principles of the Convention are nondiscrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the view of
the child.
Issues
1. Political Issues:
Child labor laws around the world are often not enforced or include exemptions that allow for child labor to persist in certain
sectors, such as agriculture or domestic work. Even in countries where strong child labor laws exist, labor departments and labor
inspection offices are often under-funded and under-staffed, or courts may fail to enforce the laws. Similarly, many state
governments allocate few resources to enforcing child labor laws.
In Nepal, most work have the required minimum age of 14 (while the universal definition for a child is an individual
under 18 years of age), and plantations and brick kilns are exempt. Kenya prohibits children under 16 from industrial work, but
excludes agriculture. Bangladesh specifies a minimum age for work (which differs depending on the labour), but sets no
regulations on domestic work or agricultural work.
2. Economic & Financial Issues:
Poor children and their families may rely upon child labor in order to improve their chances of attaining basic necessities.
According to the UN statistics of 2005, more than one-fourth of the world's people live in extreme poverty. The intensified poverty
in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America causes many children there to become child laborers.
As multinational corporations expand across borders, countries often compete for jobs, investment, and industry. This
competition sometimes slows child labor reform by encouraging corporations and governments to seek low labor costs by resisting
international standards. Some U.S. legislation has begun to include labor standards and child labor as criteria for preferential trade
and federal contracts. However, international free trade rules may prohibit consideration of child labor or workers’ rights.
The effects of poverty in developing countries are often worsened by the large interest payments on development loans.
The structural adjustments associated with these loans often require governments to cut education, health, and other public
programs, further harming children and increasing pressure on them to become child laborers. According to MediaGlobal, though
Sub-Saharan Africa received $10 billion in aid per year, it loses more than $14 billion in debt payments. In Malawi, the country
spends 40% of its GDP to repay foreign creditors, while only 15% is spent on healthcare and education combined.
3. Cultural Issues:
Most countries follow the U.S. Federal Child Labor Law in identifying what is unlawful child labour, but cultural and
religious differences introduce obstacles to the universal qualification of the concept. For example, America’s child-labour laws
forbid children below the age of 18 from working in wood workshops or any other place containing dangerous machinery. Yet
the Amish, a religious sect that continues its 19th century norms start work young. Children attend one and two-room private
schools until the age of 15, and take an apprenticeship. In 1972, the practice has been ruled as legal by the Supreme Court.
On January 23rd, President George Bush signed a bill to grant the Amish and exemption, saying any sect whose established
teachings forbid education after the eighth grade may put its children into wood workshops on the condition that they may not
operate machines; they have to wear protective clothing, and adults must be there to supervise.
However, there is still concern that such laws are easily overlooked and often violated. John Smith, a former member of
the Amish community, pointed out that some primitive mills own saws without protective covering, and the cultural spirit that
animates the Amish makes young children over-exert themselves.
4. Historical Events
a) In the late 1700's and early 1800's, power-driven machines replaced hand labor for the making of most
manufactured items. Factories began to spring up everywhere, first in England and then in the United States.
Operating the power-driven machines did not require adult strength, and children could be hired more cheaply
than adults. A child with a factory job might work 12 to 18 hours a day, six days a week, to earn a dollar. Many
children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads in
insanitary conditions, such as the underground coal mines. By 1810, about 2,000,000 school-age children were
working 50 to 70 hour weeks. Most of them came from poor families.
b) Commercial sexual exploitation, one of the most hazardous forms of child labour, is a particular threat to child
protection in a number of countries in the region, including Kenya, South Africa and Madagascar. A UNICEFsupported 2006 survey on sex tourism along the Kenyan coast reported that between 2,000 and 3,000 girls
worked year-round as commercial sex workers, and nearly half of them started as young as 12 or 13 years of
age.
c) The agricultural sector is the largest employer of children worldwide, accounting for 70 percent of global child
labour. In Africa, it is estimated that between 56 and 72 million children work in agriculture. This is a
particularly dangerous activity for children because of the risks faced when working with pesticides, tools and
machinery. In Eastern and Southern Africa it is an issue of particular concern in Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and
Zimbabwe, where many children work in the tea and tobacco industry.
Past UN Actions
International labor standards are embodied within a range of international organizations and institutions. The International
Labor Organization (ILO) is generally acknowledged for its central role in creating and promoting international labor standards.
Since its creation in 1919, the ILO has adopted 184 Conventions that establish standards for a range of workplace issues including
(but not limited to): maternity, child labor, forced labor, hours of work, safety and health, right to organize, education, etc.
UNICEF believes that a comprehensive approach to addressing child labour involves effective legislative and enforcement
systems and improved protection and response capacity. The organization collaborates with ILO and its International Programme
on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) to raise awareness amongst parliamentarians and ensure that all children, including
those vulnerable to exploitation, have access to education.
UNICEF has also been working closely with the World Bank and ILO in a project called ‘Understanding Children’s
Work’. This inter-agency program aims to address the crucial need for more and better data on child labour. It helps build capacity
at country level to track and assess child labour, analyze policies and programs relating to child labour, and support the elimination
of the practice.
In Uganda an increased number of children have been withdrawn from exploitative and hazardous labour by providing
them with other alternatives, including support to return to their communities of origin.
UNICEF supported the development of a draft Child Labour Policy and National Plan of Action on Child Labour in
Malawi and a national plan against the worst forms of child labour in Burundi.
In Madagascar, an awareness-raising campaign, including communication material and videos produced in the local
language, was designed to raise greater awareness of the problem of commercial sexual exploitation in communities.
Ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Fair Trade and Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) launched The International Code
against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism with UNICEF and partners. Together with Kenya
and Lesotho, South Africa is the only country on the African continent that has become a signatory of the Code.
Keys of the Resolution
1. Supporting workers’ struggles to organize unions and reject child labour
2. Campaigning for institutions to adopt and enforce codes of conduct (Olympics, FIFA)
3. Implementing and supporting fair trade or labeling initiatives
4. Using collective bargaining strategies with corporations: renewal of agreements
5. Promoting global labour standards in trade agreements
6. Filing suit against corporations for labour rights abuses abroad
7. Promoting access to education: removal of children from hazardous workplaces and enrollment in education
and assistance programs