A startling fact is that despite the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the video India: Working to End Child Labor claims that there is still over 200 million children laborers within 15 of the world's poorest countries; 80 million of which are located in the world's largest democracy, India. Although India is a leader in innovative technology it lags behind in adopting legislation to inhibit child labor. Secondly, India's Constitution only provides laws inhibiting child labor in factories and mines, therefore child labor is unmanaged in agriculture and such things as making inscents, etc. Thirdly, children are often treated unfairly, work in unhealthful conditions and paid far less than an adult while working longer hours, sometimes up to 16 hours a day.
Although children in India, ages 5yrs through 11yrs are now required to attend school (a step in the right direction), higher education, purchasing books and other school supplies is still unaffordable. Here in the U.S. the Department of Labor regulates the working hours of children laborers and restricts the workplace to established guidelines regarding child labor. In Arizona, children under the age of 16 are restricted to working the hours between 6:00a.m. and 9:30p.m. and no more than 3 hours on school days; Non-school days from 6:00a.m.-11:00p.m. and a maximum of 8 hours. These labor laws we have enacted are to prevent interference with education, which is a right for children.
There is something mentioned in both the video and the article in the American Journal of Public health that deserves more attention. It is the circle of poverty, that unless the government is involved and labor is regulated, may very well continue to keep generation after generation doomed to the same poverty stricken cycle. The positive result that many impoverished families acquire with children working instead of going to school is the immediate increase in much needed income, just to provide the basic necessities. But its become a double-edged sword. The negative result that is manifesting itself through generations dooming them to poverty is that children are laboring in fields instead of attending school and attaining a higher education to rise above poverty. Additionally, the children's health is at risk with much of the labor they do. As the video states, "it is because they are working that they are in poverty". Wages are depressed because children are paid far less, this keeps the quality of life poor and people remain impoverished.
Works Cited:
India: Working to End Child Labor. Films Media Group, 2004. Films On Demand. Web.18 June 2011. <http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=15108&xtid=34471>
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), 271-5
US Department of Labor
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