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By Wayne Campbell
Children should have pens in their hands, not tools.” – Iqbal Masih.
We have all seen school-aged boys and girls at various intersections across the island wiping the windscreens of cars and selling wares, however, many of us are far removed from these realities that so many of our fellow human beings experience on a daily basis. In some instances there is disbelief that so many abuses and atrocities are meted out on a daily basis to those who are marginalised and living in poverty.
Due to the economic realities being faced by numerous families it has become rather common to hear of teenage boys dropping out of school as a sort of duty in order to find employment to take care of their mothers and younger siblings. It is true that governments alone cannot solve all the social ills of any society; nevertheless, governments have a guiding role in terms of setting policies to help in reducing many of the issues we continue to grapple with as a society. Globally, governments have not done a good job at protecting the rights of children. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) states that hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights. The ILO adds, of these children, more than half are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict. The ILO launched the first World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) in 2002 on June 12 as a way to highlight the plight of these children. World Day Against Child Labour aims to focus attention on the global extent of child labour. The day brings together governments, employers and worker organisations, and civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them, and the action and efforts needed to eliminate child labour. The United Nations (UN) states that the theme this year for World Day Against Child Labour is “Social Justice for All. End Child Labour!”
Definition of Child Labour
The United Nations paints a damning picture regarding child labour – around 218 million children work, many full-time. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play. Many do not receive proper nutrition or care. They are denied the chance to be children. The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that: is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and/or interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work. The ILO adds that this involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities, often at a very early age.
Article 3 of the ILO Convention speaks to the urgency to eliminate the worst forms of child labour: all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances. Importantly, the ILO Convention 138 states the minimum age for admission to employment shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling. The United Nations states that many countries also draw the line on youth with regard to the age at which a person is given equal treatment under the law often referred to as the ‘age of majority.’ This age is commonly 18 years in many countries; so that once a person attains this age, he or she is considered to be an adult.
Contrastingly, not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult lives.
Prevalence of Child Labour
There is no country on the planet which does not have the scourge of child labour. An estimated 38 000 Jamaican youth between the ages of five and 17 years are involved in child labour, and 26 000 work in hazardous conditions. These are some of the findings contained in the Jamaica National Youth Activity Survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) and the ILO, which identified 53 274 children overall engaged in economic activities. Disturbingly, most issues which impact children in a negative way are not spoken about openly. There has been progress in reducing child labour, but over the past few years, conflicts, crises and the COVID-19 pandemic, have plunged more families into poverty and forced millions more children into child labour. Economic growth has not been sufficient, nor inclusive enough, to relieve the pressures that too many families and communities face and that forces them to resort to child labour. Today, 160 million children are still engaged in child labour. That is almost one in ten children worldwide. Africa ranks highest among regions both in the percentage of children in child labour (one-fifth), and the absolute number of children in child labour, (72 million). Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in both these measures with seven per cent of all children and 62 million in absolute terms in child labour in that region.
The Africa and the Asia and the Pacific regions together account for almost nine out of every ten children in child labour worldwide. The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (six million), and the Arab States (one million). In terms of incidence, five per cent of children are in child labour in the Americas, four per cent in Europe and Central Asia, and three per cent in the Arab States.
While the percentage of children in child labour is highest in low-income countries, their numbers are actually greater in middle-income countries. Nine per cent of all children in lower-middle-income countries, and seven per cent of all children in upper-middle-income countries, are in child labour. Statistics on the absolute number of children in child labour in each national income grouping indicate that 84 million children in child labour, accounting for 56 per cent of all those in child labour, actually live in middle-income countries, and an additional two million live in high-income countries.
Consultative Approach
The issue of child labour has been further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations highlights the seriousness of how many students are not in school. The UN adds, an estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school and an estimated 300 million students will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life. In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal #4, education systems must be re-imagined and education financing must become a priority national investment. It is evident that much work is needed in terms of eliminating child labour. One area of concern which requires more scaffolding of human resources is the education system. Many students begin the academic year in September and by half way they just stop attending or they return after weeks or even months. Unfortunately, the education system is not as robust as it ought to be in tracking these students. Many of our boys find school uninteresting given our one-size-fits-all approach. We need to move towards addressing the needs of boys in our schools given that most boys tend to be tactile learners. Now is the time for social workers to be placed in our schools given that many of the problems we are now experiencing have their genesis in school. Additionally, we clearly need database sharing among all the stakeholders groups with responsibilities for children. For example, the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), the Registrar General’s Department and Law Enforcement should have some direct linkages where officers can do checks at the click of a mouse. In many instances time is of the essence especially as this relates to the worst forms of child labour such as prostitution and the sex trade. We must also be mindful that young boys are also traded in these clandestine activities and as such we must examine these issues in a broader context. It is clear that as a society we must act now to redouble all efforts and maximise our resources in order to put an end to child labour.
In the words of Grace Abbott, child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labour of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labour until the end of time.
Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues.
waykam@yahoo.com
@WayneCamo
#WorldDayAgainstChildLabour #WDACL #EndChildLabour #SocialJustice
