People focus more on drastic violations but violations that are overlooked and are not recognized as human rights violation. When such violation becomes part of our cultural practices then they can be easily ignored by people. These human rights violations need attention. And child labor is among these violations; it must be considered a serious human rights violation.

What is Child labor?

Child Labor refers to work performed by children that is inadequate for children’s age and harms the children’s physical health, moral development and psychological well-being. This includes exploitative labor that can interfere with children’s right to education, health, and protection. Remember that activities performed by children at their own home that do not interferes with their education. And they are non-harmful to affect their physical or mental health are not considered child labor; instead, these activities contribute to their physical development and help children develop basic life skills.

Children are among the most vulnerable members of our societies. Access to nourishing food, shelter, security and protection, as well as access to quality education and healthcare facilities are their fundamental rights.

The UN agencies and organizations such as UNICEF, UNDP, ILO have been working to eliminate child labor, ensure social protection, support families and provide income support. According to the international labour organization, international community failed to meet the 2025 target for eliminating child labour. Nearly 138 million children are engaged in child labor globally, of whom 54 million children are involved in hazardous work. The study included data from 107 countries. These figures highlight the scale of a problem that directly threatens fundamental rights to education, health, safety, protection, and development. yet millions of children are deprived of these rights and involved in dangerous forms of child labour.

The large number of children’s involvement in labor raises the question of why does child labor continue despite efforts to reduce it?

So, this raises the question of what the major causes of child labor are?

Poverty and Economic Hardship: Poverty is one of the major causes of child labor. When families live in extreme poverty, and lack financial support. Earning enough money to meet basic needs become difficult, then children may be pushed into work for to help meet their families’ basic needs.

Lack of Employment Opportunities for Adults: Due to a lack of employment opportunities for adults’ children are compelled to work. Which can threaten their physical or mental well-being. if the family’s only earning member loses their job and cannot find another job, the family experiences financial pressure, which may lead children to work. However, unemployment and poverty are not the only factors but high cost and inaccessibility of education also contribute to child labor.

Lack of Institutions and Cultural norms: In some cases, children are unable to attend school because of a lack of schools or access to quality education. schools may be too far from their homes or the school environment and quality education may be unsatisfactory.

In some communities across regions like South Asia, Middle East, Latin America and North Africa men are traditionally expected to bear the financial responsibility for their families. The problem occurs when this expectation is imposed on children. In some societies this can be understood that men are the financial providers. However, when families are already struggling with poverty and financial instability boys may face social pressure to work regardless of the circumstances to fulfill what is seen as their responsibility, even if it disrupts the child’s education and health. This social pressure can force boys to assume these responsibilities at an early age.

According to UNICEF (n.d.), Among children aged 5-17 years old 9% of boys are engaged in child labor, compared with 7% of girls. Because Boys are more likely to perform physically demanding tasks while girls are more likely to be engaged in domestic labor. The difference in child labor rates between girls and boys is smallest among younger children and becomes more significant with age.

Weak governance and law enforcement: Regions like North America and Europe have some of the lowest rates of child labor. Because these regions have stronger economies or their governments provide financial support to vulnerable families. These regions not only have stronger economies and provide financial support to vulnerable families but also enforce strong laws against child labor. Governments need to enforce child labor laws and impose strict penalties on employers who violate them. Governments should ensure access to free education for children from low-income families so that they are not force to work.

Effects of child labour:

Working continuously for many hours a day in an unhygienic environment affects the child. And it has negative effects on children health and can also have negative consequences of country’s economy. Working at a very young age may help poor families meet their basic needs. Although, this may provide a short-term benefit but it can lead to long term consequences. In most cases, children receive low wages and almost zero payment for the work. Early entry into the labor force can limit children’s access to education and skill development, which may reduce their employment opportunities later in life. Child labor can contribute to poverty and perpetuates the cycle of illiteracy and limited education across generations.

Another serious issue is the impact of child labor on children health including respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, chronic fatigue, stress anxiety and other psychological problems. Child labor is associated with undernourishment among children, and mortality rate among boys and girls aged 10-14 years.

According to Roggero et al. (2007), child labor is connected with poor child health, malnutrition, mortality and associated with morbidities like HIV/AIDS, malaria and infectious diseases in childhood. These findings demonstrate that child labor is an important health-related issue and that its relationship with child health must be considered alongside wider social and economic conditions such as poverty and overall population health.

References

UNICEF. (n.d.). What is child labour? https://www.unicef.org/stories/child-labour

International Labour Organization. (n.d.). What is child labour? https://www.ilo.org/topics/child-labour/what-child-labour

Roggero, P., Mangiaterra, V., Bustreo, F., & Rosati, F. (2007). The health impact of child labor in developing countries: Evidence from cross-country data. American Journal of Public Health, 97(2), 271–275. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2005.066829