Child Labour - The Evil Eye

Economic hardship exacts a toll on millions of families worldwide – and in some places, it comes at the price of a child’s safety.

Roughly 160 million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of 2020, with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19. This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide. Almost half of them are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health and development.

Children may be driven into work for various reasons. Most often, child labour occurs when families face financial challenges or uncertainty – whether due to poverty, sudden illness of a caregiver, or job loss of a primary wage earner.

The consequences are staggering. Child labour can result in extreme bodily and mental harm, and even death. It can lead to slavery and sexual or economic exploitation. And in nearly every case, it cuts children off from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights.

Migrant and refugee children – many of whom have been uprooted by conflict, disaster or poverty – also risk being forced into work and even trafficked, especially if they are migrating alone or taking irregular routes with their families.

Trafficked children are often subjected to violence, abuse and other human rights violations. For girls, the threat of sexual exploitation looms large, while boys may be exploited by armed forces or groups.

Whatever the cause, child labour compounds social inequality and discrimination. Unlike activities that help children develop, such as contributing to light housework or taking on a job during school holidays, child labour limits access to education and harms a child’s physical, mental and social growth. Especially for girls, the “triple burden” of school, work and household chores heightens their risk of falling behind, making them even more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

Prevalence of child labour

Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest proportion of child labourers (26 per cent of children aged 5 to 17 years). This is in stark comparison to Latin America and the Caribbean, where 7 per cent of children in this age group are performing potentially harmful work.

Gender disparities

In all regions, boys and girls are equally likely to be involved in child labour. However, gender disparities are often observed in the types of activities carried out, with girls far more likely to be involved in unpaid household services.

In all regions, boys and girls are equally likely to be involved in child labour. However, gender disparities are often observed in the types of activities carried out, with girls far more likely to be involved in unpaid household services.

Causes of child labour

Significant causes of child employment that can be understood keeping in mind the Indian scenario, are:

• POVERTY:

 In developing countries it is impossible to control child labour as children have been considered as helping hand to feed their families, to support their families and to feed themselves. Due to poverty, illiteracy and unemployment parents are unable to bear the burden of feeding their children and to run their families. So, poor parents send their children for work in inhuman conditions at lower wages.

The majority of the nation’s population lives in poverty. Due to their inability to pay for their children’s education, poor parents force them to start working at a young age. In reality, they are fully aware of the impact caused by frequently losing close ones to poverty. They employ their young children in homes, businesses, and factories. They are required to work as soon as possible to raise the income of their low-income households. These choices are made just to provide a meagre life for their family. However, such choices destroy children’s physical and emotional health since they rob them of their childhood at a young age.

• PREVIOUS DEBTS:

The poor economic conditions of people in india force them to borrow money. The Illiterate populations go to money lenders and sometimes mortgage their belongings in turn of the debt taken by them. But, due to insufficiency of income, debtors find it very difficult to pay back the debt and the interest. This vicious circle of poverty drags them towards working day and night for the creditor and then the debtors drag their children too in assisting them so that the debts could be paid off. Some children are forced to work in order to support their families because they are under pressure to provide food and shelter as well as to pay off debt that their parents owe. Some children, meanwhile, are sold into slavery against their will.

• PROFESSIONAL NEEDS:

There are some industries such as the ‘bangle making’ industry, where delicate hands and little fingers are needed to do very minute work with extreme excellence and precision. An adult’s hands are usually not so delicate and small, so they require children to work for them and do such dangerous work with glass. This often resulted in major eye accidents of the children.

• NO SPACE FOR ALTERNATIVES 

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), a significant contributing factor that pushes children into hazardous labour is a lack of available alternatives, such as affordable schools and high-quality education.  Children are bound to work because they are dissatisfied and have no other means of earning. There are not enough acceptable school facilities in many localities, especially rural ones where child labour is rampant.  Even when schools are available, they are frequently too far away, challenging to reach, expensive, or the quality of instruction is so low that parents question whether attending school is actually worthwhile. Even after 75 years of independence, there are still a number of children whose right to education is denied owing to their situations. This can only be managed by the effective implementation of national schemes.

• SOCIAL CAUSES

The primary cause of child labour in India is also the country’s social and economic backwardness. Parents who are socially backwards do not send their children to school. As a consequence, their children are compelled into child labour. Many times, parents are unaware of different programmes for children’s education because of illiteracy. Child labour has been fostered by a lack of education, illiteracy, and, as a result, a lack of understanding of rights among children. Additionally, illiterate parents are unaware of the effects child labour has on their children. Rural households have a compulsive reason for including children in a variety of duties due to the situations of poverty and unemployment. In actuality, India’s child labour issue is still perpetuated by the remains of the feudal, zamindari system.

• FAMILY TRADITION

The cultural tradition in many countries is that children follow their parent’s footsteps with regard to their profession. Subsequently, it ends in child labour as they tend to learn and practise that skill from a very young age, especially where informal economy and small household businesses exist. Similarly, the education of girls is often undervalued, leading to pressure on these girls to engage in child labour, such as domestic duties.

• ADDICTION, DISEASE OR DISABILITY

Due to addiction, illness, or disability, there is often no income in the family, and the child’s wages are the only source of support. Additionally, when the population grows, unemployment rises, which has a negative effect on initiatives to prevent child labour. In order to boost the family’s income, parents are prepared to send their children to work instead of enrolling them in school.

• POOR COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS

In today’s culture, regulations guarantee that people have the right to a good education, access to quality healthcare, and self-care. Every person has the right to play the game he likes, and enjoy all the means of enjoyment, and when he develops, to acquire work where he may earn well and contribute to society and nation. But child labour is still being used in India since the regulations are not being followed properly. Only rigorous adherence to the relevant laws will make it unlawful.

• DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN GIRLS AND BOYS

There’s a general belief that boys are stronger than girls and that they cannot be compared on an equal footing. In our culture, there are numerous instances where girls are denied the opportunity to pursue their education. Girls who are considered as being weaker than boys are denied access to education and school. Girls are often seen working alongside their parents in households that are labourers.

• OTHER MINOR CAUSES

Some shops, businesses, and factory owners hire them out of a desire for cheap labour so that they may pay them less, which amounts to hiring cheap labour. Shopkeepers and other small company owners make them work just as hard as older people while only paying them half as much. Child labour also reduces the likelihood of theft, greed, or money misappropriation. Child labour has been encouraged in India as a result of the growth of globalisation, privatisation, and consumerist culture as well as the demand for inexpensive labour and its connection to the financial needs of low-income families.