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Where Does It Occur?
Child labor can be found in almost every country. Some similar problems can be constated in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States: children working for many hours and many days, for too little, or sometimes no pay, subject often to physical abuse, exposed to dangerous pesticides, and made to work with dangerous tools.
It is estimated that there are at least:
• 122.3 million child workers (ages 5 to 14) in the Asia Pacific region.
• 49.3 million child workers (ages 5 to 14) in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 5.7 million child workers (ages 5 to 14) in Latin America and the Caribbean. |
What is the impact of Child Labor on children?
Child labor damages children’s health and development, threatens their education and better future life opportunities and leads to further exploitation and abuse.
Child laborers are at high risk of:
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• Lifelong physical or psychological damage to child.
Child domestic workers are routinely subjected to abuse, including lack of food, unsafe working conditions, being beaten, deliberately burnt or sexually abused.
• Loss of basic and fundamental human rights
Some children are confined, reduced to “slavery”, they work in conditions that violate their rights to health, education, and protection, they are denied freedom of movement-the right to leave the workplace and go home to their families.]
• Loss of the child’s education and future opportunities [Most of these children are denied a normal childhood and an education. This perpetuates the cycle of poverty in the life of these children, and depresses national economic development. They are not offered educational and professional skills to get a proper job allowing them to earn money. ] |
What are the factors responsible for Child Labor?
Some of the factors responsible for Child Labor are:
• Poverty and gross inequality
• Unfair income distribution or land distribution
• Adult unemployment
• Traditional cultural practices and family expectations,
• Lack of law and failure to enforce the law,
• Employer’s desire for cheap and flexible labor,
• Public opinion that downplays the risk of early work for children
• Gender inequity,
• Poor and inadequate education,
• Inadequate social protection, lack of social security.
• Discrimination,
• Migration,
• Desire for consumer goods ,
• Political instability,
• Crisis situations like national disasters and economic recession,
• Armed conflict. [Link Part VII-I-Children in armed conflicts.] |
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