A paper, written at Cornell University, caught my eye while surfing on the web. Let's take a moment here and think about this topic.
Child labor can be defined as "all forms of work performed by children under the age laid down in ILO (International Labor Office) standards for that kind of work." Considered to be the worst forms are, among others: slavery, prostitution, use of children in drug trafficking and other illegal activities.
According to the ILO, 246 million children of ages 5 to 17 are engaged in child labor around the world. About 179 million of them are employed in the worst forms.
Workers under 18 face particular hazards. The rate of injury per hour worked for children seems to be as high as twice the rate for adults in some countries.
The ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) is the world's largest cooperation focusing on child labor.
Beside the work ILO carries out, it also sets conventions. The ILO's Minimum Age Convention 1973 has been ratified by 116 countries and the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention 1999 has been ratified by 117.
Luckily, not only the ILO is occupied with the subject of child labor. The UN also has achieved the ratification of almost all UN members of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
According to me, one of the worst things about the human world, is child labor. Who could force their child into working? I get that poor families need their children to help them out on the farm to make the ends meet. But some parents sell their children, after which they are forced to work. I don't get that.
I remember reading a book by Dirk Bracke, "Blauw is bitter". It told the story of a girl who was sold by her poor family and ended up as a prostitute. I remember being very dazed by the tale. Bracke is a writer of children's books. And the topics that he chooses are quite dramatic. I loved his books, I've read a lot of them. I enjoyed being able to read about a serious item, written in a language that children can understand.
And how do you feel about the figures: 246 million child laborers across the world. 246 million, that is 25 times all Belgian people. I can't even envision how much that really is. I knew child labor was still an actual problem, but I didn't know its dimension. I'm stunned !
About 73 % of them are trapped in the worst forms. Can you imagine yourself as a child, having to sell drugs, or prostitute yourself or running around in an armed conflict? I certainly do not. I sympathize with those who did/do not have any choice. And I can only hope that they grow up to be good people, in spite of their horrible childhood memories.
The ILO is a great organization. They're not only there for show, like some other organizations - of which I'm not going to mention names. They achieved so much already. And they'll keep going until they've reached their goal: to end all child labor. It may be unrealistic, but I think it's a good thing to set your standards high.
All of you should check out this link: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/wdacl/english.htm.
It shows a beautiful short film on the subject of child labor. It makes you think a little bit about it. I consider every time anyone dwells on child labor, a help. It's like commercials: Marketers consider people just talking about their commercial, a success. I feel the same way about the topic child labor. If, of all people who talk, think, hear, read about the subject, only 1 % acts on it, that would be a great triumph. Even though we can't do much, whenever I get a chance to help, I certainly will. How about you ?
Lore Pieters
In the world where we live in, wealth is the normal way of living. Who of the western people would even think about it how lucky we are that we can go to school? Ask some money to our parents and have food every day. And how can we even say ‘I am hungry’. We even don’t know what it is. And then I’ve read this article and read this terrible truth, hard reality. Hard working children that own almost nothing, were food is a basic want but still hard to get. This makes me think about this subject and I agree totally with every word that Lore said about this. Unfortunately, this is the hard reality and what can we do to make a change? After I’ve looked to the video where they say…
BeantwoordenVerwijderen‘But the world is changing and more than one million of these children now go to school’
We need to go on and help these children so they can go to school and have a future. Let them be children again…
Julie Joostens ( 2MA3 )