CHILD LABOUR

Question: What are the key international regulations governing the prohibition of child labour, do you think

they are successful?

Definations• Child: A child is someone under the age of

18, entitled to the rights proclaimed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child including the right to be protected from economic exploitation.

• Child Labour: It means work done by children under the age of 18. However some countries have different views about the lawful minimum age of employment.

Child Labour interferes with his or her education, or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. (Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 32.1)

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 2nd September 1990 All countries ratified, except Somalia, 28 September 1992 – Irish ratification

Types of Child Labour

Categorized by workplace:

• Industries• Hotels• Restaurants• Tourism• Streets

Worst form of child Labour These forms include:• Child Trafficking: Transfer of child to another person in return of

consideration is called child trafficking.• Child Prostitution and Pornography: Sometimes children are forced in

prostitution and pornography which create physical risk and diseases like AIDS.

• Children used in Armed Conflict: Involvement in arm conflict is dangerous for physical and mental growth.

• Other types of child labour are domestic slavery, hazardous child labour etc.

Reasons of Child Labour:

ReasonsPoverty Family Breakdown Minority Group

Child Labour Around the World

Child Labour Ratio

Active Organizations

ILO (International Labour Organization)

-ACTRAV -IPEC -ICFTU -WCL -LIRGIAD -HIVA -CLMUNICEF (United

Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund)

International Regulations

• 1973 Minimum Age Convention 138: This establishes the obligation for countries to work towards a minimum age of 15 for legal employment.

• 1999 Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 182: Governments are bound to pass child labour preventing laws by ratifying convention 182.

• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): convention gives children’s some rights such as:

CRC• Article 19: Children will be

protected from all kind of Physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, negligence and exploitation.

• Article 27: Right of adequate living for Physical, mental, moral and social development

• Article 28 and 29: Right to education

• Article 31: Right to play• Article 32: Right to be protected

from economic exploitation and from performing hazardous work

• Article 38: Prohibited from being recruited into arm forces or direct participating in hostility.

Acts

• Coroners and Justice Act 2009: According to section 71, if a person holds someone in slavery or servitude or force to perform compulsory labour then the maximum punishment is 14 years imprisonment. The offence must be interpreted in accordance with Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Anti Slavery Day Act 2010 c.14:According to section1(2) the purpose of this Act,to acknowledge that millions of men, women and children continue to be victims of slavery depriving them of basic human dignity, freedom and raise awareness among people.

•

National legislations• Child labour is largely found in Indian subcontinent,Acts also enacted to prevent this.For

example,Article 24 of the Indian constitution states that "No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed in any hazardous employment.

• Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation)Act 1986 (India) states that children under 14 could not be employed in hazardous occupations.

• Labour Act 2006 (Bangladesh) sets the minimum age for work to 14 years and 18 years for hazardous work. Also, light work for children between the ages of 12 - 14 years is defined as non-hazardous work that does not impede education.

•

Justification

• Convention 182 not ratified by 11 countries.

• Failed to set up objects

• Out of survey• Ineffective laws• Dishonest company

owners• Poor infrastructure

Conclution

• Thomas A. Offit, children work because of poverty they and their family face, itself a result of national and global inequalities in distribution of wealth. While the developed world tries to use legislations of eradicating child labour, it is these same nations that, through their control of the global economy, consign children to the bottom rung of the ladder.

Bibliography• Conventions & Acts: • 1The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 2nd September 1990 All countries ratified, except 2 (Somalia & USA) 28 September 1992 –

Irish ratification.• 2.UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child((adopted 20 November 1989,entered into force on 2 September 1990)

1577 UNTShttp://uk.oneworld.net/guides/childlabour accessed 27 October 2010• 3.Coroners and Justice Act ,2009<http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/newsrelease250310c.htm>accessed 27 October 2010• 4.Anti Slavery Day Act, 2010 c.14 https://login.westlaw.co.uk/maf/wluk/app/document?src=doc&linktype=ref&&context=8&crumb-

action=replace&docguid=I1438AB80461511DF8F7ED103420FF1FA accessed 27 October 2010

• Books:• 1. Barnett. H, Constitutional and Administrative law(6th Edition, Cavendish 1995)500• 2. Offit, T.A Conquistadores DE LA CALLE, Child Street Labour in Guatemala City (1st edition, University of Texas Press, USA 2008)

• Websites:• .1.ILO, A Future without Child Labour, ILO, Geneva 2002, p45. p45.<http://www.unicef.org.uk/publications/pdf/ECECHILD2_A4.pdf+ILO,

+A+Future+without+Child+Labour,+ILO,+Geneva+2002,+p45.&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjZJ9eENZcOppZDdEilel4de3TGHkJU9K2ptWkP0Xnwhn4P3A0fYiC2_x3eYHfODz_zxj3XOdrI0ODDSeoiRYqJ3VZgLj-IlzI3TJvBe3fB1kdYYHMXJW81eBRYTEUKB8mFBUGl&sig=AHIEtbRXM1rmHM0HGGyyFOwY9-b5MVxQmA>accessed 27 October 2010

• 2.Child Labour: Targeting the Intolerable, Geneva, 1998, p. 7 <http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/childlabor.html> accessed 27 October 2010• .3.HIVA is member of the Leuven Interdisciplinary Research Group on International Agreements and Sustainable Development (LIRGIAD). The

current research fits in one of the main domains of focus of the Group, i.e. the role of civil society and social partners in the elaboration, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of international standards and agreements <http://www.lirgiad.be> accessed 26 October 2010

• 4.<http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126685.pdf> accessed 26 October 2010• 5.<http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Action/Childlabourmonitoring/lang--en/index.htm> accessed 26 October 2010• 6.International Labour Organization (ILO), Minimum Age Convention, C138,(adopted in 26 June 1973,came into force in 19 June 1976)<

http://www.unicef.org.uk/publications/pdf/ECECHILD2_A4.pdf>accessed 27 October ,2010 • 7.International Labour Organization (ILO), Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, C182, (adopted in 17June 1999,came into force in 19

November 2000 ) <http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/childlabour> accessed 27 October 2010• 8. http://uk.oneworld.net/guides/childlabour accessed 27 October 2010• 9.<http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_126685.pdf>accessed 27 October 2010• 10.Mitesh Badiwala, ‘Child Labour in India: Causes, Governmental Policies and the role of Education’< http://www.skcv.com/child

%20labour.htm>accessed 26 October 2010• 11.Child Labour India <http://www.indianchild.com/child_labor_india.htm> accessed 27 October 2010• 12. <http://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/regions/asro/newdelhi/ipec/responses/bangladesh/national.htm> accessed 26 October 2010

Presentation created by

• Andalib Ferdous

• Kazi Rahman.

Thank You

The End