WorkShop:5 (Child Labour)

What is child Labour?

The term “child labour” is defined as “Work that deprives children of their childhood. ,Deprive their potential and their dignity, and which is harmful to  their physical and mental development.

Why Child Labour:

The reason of child labour are :

n  Poverty .

n  Over population.

n   Illiteracy

n  Adult Unemployment .

n  Urbanization

International Regulations on the child labour :

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument .

 The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols .

The Four core principles of the Convention are :Non-Discrimination ,Devotion to the best interests of the child ,The right to life, survival and development ,Respect for the views of the child.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) also introduce some conventions

n   Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138):

n   Worst Form of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182):
 

International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour : Organization who is working for it called IPEC (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour ). They have some strategy such as:

• Motivating a broad alliance and act against child labour.
• Carrying out and assisting national policies on child labour problems.
• Strengthening existing organizations
• Supporting action directly.

Whether Regulations are successful or not?

Though these regulations are on force, but still they are not working. As we can say because of the fact given below:

Recent facts on the child labour in 2010:

There are already many reports[1] which shows that the recent facts on the child labour :

1. The global number of child labourers stands at 215 million, only seven million less than in 2004. It refer that this regulations are not working properly.
2. Among 5-14 year olds, the number of children in child labour has declined by 10 per cent and the number of children in hazardous work by 31 per cent which can be appreciated.
3. There has been a welcome 15 per cent decrease in the number of girls in child labour and a 24 per cent decline in the number of girls in hazardous work. Boys, however, saw their work increase, both in terms of incidence rates and in absolute numbers. The extent of hazardous work among boys remained relatively stable. That reflects the success of regulations.

4. There has been an alarming 20 per cent increase in child labour in the 15-17 years age group from 52 million to 62 million which is very disappointing.

 Recommendations:

n  Single action or isolated measures against child   labour will not have a lasting impact. Actions must be part of an overall national plan.

n   To develop effective national (and international) policies and programmers, extensive research must be undertaken to determine the state of child labour.

n   Child labour is often viewed as an unavoidable consequence of poverty. Without greater awareness about the extent and exploitative nature of child labour, the conditions for change will not occur.

n   Government action against child labour often ends with making laws.

n   Initiatives against child labour traditionally come from non-governmental organizations that have limited resources. It needs to work together with other segments of civil society — the media, educators, artists and parliamentarians — should also be enlisted in the fight.