Introduction

The term Child Labor is used for employment of children below a certain age, which
is considered illegal by law and custom. The stipulated age varies from country to
country and government to government. Child labor is a world phenomenon which
is considered exploitative and inhuman by many international organizations.

Child Labor began to be considered a human rights issue and became an issue of
public dispute, when the foundation of universal schooling was laid. Historically the
transformation came with the industrial revolution and the emergence of concepts
like children’s rights and worker’s right’s. Child labor is widely prevalent in some
form or the other, all over the world. The term is used for domestic work, factory
work, agriculture, mining, quarrying, having own work or business’ like selling food
etc, helping parent’s business and doing odd jobs. Children are regularly employed
to guide tourists, sometimes doubling up as a marketing force to bring in business
for shop owners and other business establishment. In some industries children are
forced to do repetitive and tedious work like weaving carpets, assembling boxes,
polishing shoes, cleaning and arranging a shops goods. It is seen that children are
found working more in the informal sectors compared to factories and commercial
registered organizations. Little children are often seen selling in the streets or
working quietly on domestic chores within the high walls of homes – hidden away
from the eyes of the media and labor inspectors.

According to the statistics given by International Labor Organization there are about
218 million children between the age of 5 and 17 working all over the world. The
figure excludes domestic labor. The most condemned form of child labor is the use
of children for military purpose and child prostitution. Child agricultural works, child
singers and child actors outside of school hours during season time are more
acceptable by champions of human rights and law. The phenomenon of child labor
is a complex development issue worthy of investigation. The fact that vulnerable
children are being exploited and forced into work, which is not fit for their age, is a
human rights concern now. India and other developed and developing countries are
really plagued by the problem of child employment in organized and unorganized
sectors.

Child labor is a human rights issue of immense sensitivity. Child labor is considered
exploitative by the United Nations and International Labor Organization. The article
32 of the UN speaks about child labour as follows-“States parties recognize the right
of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any
work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be
harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development.” To sum up, most countries of the world consider it highly
inappropriate when a child below a certain age is put to work. People should be
prohibited from hiring labor below a certain age. However, the minimum age at
which a human can be put to work differs from country to country. In the US the
child labor laws have set the minimum age to work in an organization without the
parents’ consent at sixteen.
What is Child Labour
Child labor is done by any working child who is under the age specified by law. The
word, “work” means full time commercial work to sustain self or add to the family
income. Child labor is a hazard to a Child’s mental, physical, social, educational,
emotional and spiritual development. Broadly any child who is employed in
activities to feed self and family is being subjected to “child labor’.

It is obligatory for all countries to set a minimum age for employment according to
the rules of ILO written in Convention 138(C.138). The stipulated age for
employment should not be below the age for finishing compulsory schooling, which
is not below the age of 15. Developing countries are allowed to set the minimum
age at 14 years in accordance with their socio- economic circumstances.

C-138 has also made provisions for flexibility for certain countries, setting the
minimum age of 12 and 13 for their children - but only for partaking in light work.
Light work can be defined as children’s participation in only those economic
activities which do not damage their health and development or interfere with their
education. Yes, work that does not obstruct with a child’s education is considered
light work and allowed from age 12 under the International Labor Organization (ILO
Convention 138). It is because of this that many children employed in part time
work like learning craft or other skills of a hereditary nature are not called child
labors. The same work translates into child labor if a child is thrown into weaving
carpets, working into factories or some other employment to earn money to sustain
self, or augment his family’s income - without being given school education and
allowed opportunities for normal social interactions. A child working part time (3-4
hours) to learn and earn for self and parents after school, is not considered ‘child
labor’. The Industrial revolution had ushered in the horrendous practice of
employing children of 4 and 5 years in factories in environmental conditions, which
were risky for their health and well-being, often proving fatal. Developed countries
have reacted sharply to this historical fact by equating “child labor” with human
right violation. However poor countries are more accepting about child labor as a
living necessity.

The year 1990 witnessed all countries of the world except United States and
Somalia become a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The
strongest, most consistent language in legal terminology prohibiting illegal child
labor is provided by the CRC. However it does not establish the practice of child
labor as legally punishable.

Employment with others and self-employment both come under the aegis of ‘child
labor’. It has been seen that children who are street sellers, street entertainers, rag
pickers, child prostitutes or pornography models, beggars etc. - are mostly without
natural guardians and exploited by underground gangsters and racketeers. These
children are mostly children of illegal migrants. They are the victim of
abandonment, riots, wars or just sheer poverty and homelessness. In poor countries
some children are helping hands for their parents or are employed in factories,
commercial organizations or households with the consent of the parents. The most
appalling form of child labor is prostitution and modeling for child pornography.
Some children are even sold to fiefs by their parents for money.
Child Labour Today
Child labor is a very complicated development issue, effecting human society all
over the world. It is a matter of grave concern that children are not receiving the
education and leisure which is important for their growing years, because they are
sucked into commercial and laborious activities which is meant for people beyond
their years. According to the statistics given by ILO and other official agencies 73
million children between 10 to 14 years of age re employed in economic activities
all over the world. The figure translates into 13.2 of all children between 10 to 14
being subjected to child labor.

Child labor is most rampant in Asia with 44.6 million or 13% percent of its children
doing commercial work followed by Africa at 23.6 million or 26.3% which is the
highest rate and Latin America at 5.1 million that is 9.8%.

In India 14.4 % children between 10 and 14 years of age are employed in child
labor. in Bangladesh 30.1%, in China 11.6%,in Pakistan 17.7%, in Turkey 24%, in
Cote D’lvoire 20.5%, in Egypt 11.2%, in Kenya 41.3% , in Nigeria 25.8%, in Senegal
31.4%, in Argentina 4.5%, in Brazil 16.1%, in Mexico 6.7%, in Italy 0.4% and in
Portugal 1.8%. The above figures only give part of the picture. No reliable figures of
child workers below 10 years of age are available, though they comprise a
significant amount. The same is true of children in the former age group on whom
no official data is available. If it was possible to count the number of child workers
properly, and the number of young girls occupied in domestic labor taken into
account - the figure will emerge as hundreds of million.

Child labour is also prevalent in rich and industrialized countries, although less
compared to poor nations. For example there are a large of children working for pay
at home, in seasonal cycles, for street trade and small workshops in Southern
Europe. India is a glaring example of a nation hounded by the evil of child labor. It is
estimated that there are 60 to 115 million working children in India- which was the
highest in 1996 according to human rights watch.

The problems coming from a centrally planned to market economy has led to the
creation of many child workers in central and eastern Europe. Same is the case in
America. The growth of the service sector, increasing provision of part time jobs and
the need for flexible work force has given birth to a big market for child workers
here.

Historically the working force of child workers is more in rural areas compared to
urban settings. Nine out of ten village children are employed in agriculture or
household industries and craftwork. In towns and cities children are more absorbed
in service and trading sectors rather that marketing. This is due to the rapid
urbanization of the modern world. Survey done by experimental statisticians of ILO
in India, Indonesia and Senegal have revealed that child labor under the age of
fourteen takes place in family enterprises mostly, with the exception of Latin
America. Child labor is also found to be gender specific, with more boys than girls
employed in laborious activities. But this is also because it is difficult to take a count
of girls working in households.
Child Labour in India
Child labor in India is a human right issue for the whole world. It is a serious and
extensive problem, with many children under the age of fourteen working in carpet
making factories, glass blowing units and making fireworks with bare little hands.
According to the statistics given by Indian government there are 20 million child
laborers in the country, while other agencies claim that it is 50 million.

In Northern India the exploitation of little children for labor is an accepted practice
and perceived by the local population as a necessity to alleviate poverty. Carpet
weaving industries pay very low wages to child laborers and make them work for
long hours in unhygienic conditions. Children working in such units are mainly
migrant workers from Northern India, who are shunted here by their families to earn
some money and send it to them. Their families dependence on their income, forces
them to endure the onerous work conditions in the carpet factories. The situation of
child laborers in India is desperate. Children work for eight hours at a stretch with
only a small break for meals. The meals are also frugal and the children are ill
nourished. Most of the migrant children who cannot go home, sleep at their work
place, which is very bad for their health and development. Seventy five percent of
Indian population still resides in rural areas and are very poor. Children in rural
families who are ailing with poverty perceive their children as an income generating
resource to supplement the family income. Parents sacrifice their children’s
education to the growing needs of their younger siblings in such families and view
them as wage earners for the entire clan.

The Indian government has tried to take some steps to alleviate the problem of
child labor in recent years by invoking a law that makes the employment of children
below 14 illegal, except in family owned enterprises. However this law is rarely
adhered to due to practical difficulties. Factories usually find loopholes and
circumvent the law by declaring that the child laborer is a distant family member.
Also in villages there is no law implementing mechanism, and any punitive actions
for commercial enterprises violating these laws is almost non existent.

Child labor is a conspicuous problem in India. Its prevalence is evident in the child
work participation rate, which is more than that of other developing countries.
Poverty is the reason for child labor in India. The meager income of child laborers is
also absorbed by their families. The paucity of organized banking in the rural areas
creates a void in taking facilities, forcing poor families to push their children in
harsh labor, the harshest being bonded labor.

Bonded labor traps the growing child in a hostage like condition for years. The
importance of formal education is also not realized, as the child can be absorbed in
economically beneficial activities at a young age. Moreover there is no access to
proper education in the remote areas of rural India for most people, which leaves
the children with no choice.
Causes of Child Labour
Some common causes of child labor are poverty, parental illiteracy, social apathy,
ignorance, lack of education and exposure, exploitation of cheap and unorganized
labor. The family practice to inculcate traditional skills in children also pulls little
ones inexorably in the trap of child labor, as they never get the opportunity to learn
anything else.

Absence of compulsory education at the primary level, parental ignorance regarding

the bad effects of child labor, the ineffictivity of child labor laws in terms of
implementation, non availability and non accessibility of schools, boring and
unpractical school curriculum and cheap child labor are some other factors which
encourages the phenomenon of child labor. It is also very difficult for immature
minds and undeveloped bodies to understand and organize them selves against
exploitation in the absence of adult guidance. Poverty and over population have
been identified as the two main causes of child labor. Parents are forced to send
little children into hazardous jobs for reasons of survival, even when they know it is
wrong. Monetary constraints and the need for food, shelter and clothing drives their
children in the trap of premature labor. Over population in some regions creates
paucity of resources. When there are limited means and more mouths to feed
children are driven to commercial activities and not provided for their development
needs. This is the case in most Asian and African countries.

Illiterate and ignorant parents do not understand the need for wholesome proper
physical, cognitive and emotional development of their child. They are themselves
uneducated and unexposed, so they don’t realize the importance of education for
their children. Adult unemployment and urbanization also causes child labor. Adults
often find it difficult to find jobs because factory owners find it more beneficial to
employ children at cheap rates. This exploitation is particularly visible in garment
factories of urban areas. Adult exploitation of children is also seen in many places.
Elders relax at home and live on the labor of poor helpless children.

The industrial revolution has also had a negative effect by giving rise to
circumstances which encourages child labor. Sometimes multinationals prefer to
employ child workers in the developing countries. This is so because they can be
recruited for less pay, more work can be extracted from them and there is no union
problem with them. This attitude also makes it difficult for adults to find jobs in
factories, forcing them to drive their little ones to work to keep the fire burning their
homes.

The incidence of child labor would diminish considerably even in the face of poverty,
if there are no parties willing to exploits them. Strict implementation of child labor
laws and practical and healthy alternatives to replace this evil can go a long way to
solve the problem of child labor. Children who are born out of wedlock, orphaned or
abandoned are especially vulnerable to exploitation. They are forced to work for
survival when there are no adults and relatives to support them. Livelihood
considerations can also drive a child into the dirtiest forms of child labor like child
prostitution and organized begging.
Child Labour Laws
Child labor is a reality in spite of all the steps taken by the legal machinery to
eliminate it. It prevails and persists as a world phenomenon in spite of child labor
laws.

The causes of child labor in the contemporary world are the same as those in U.S.
hundred years ago- namely poverty, lack of education and exposure, poor access to
education, suppression of workers rights, partial prohibition of child labor and
inadequate enforcement of child labor laws.

The existing law and codes of conduct regarding child labor are blatantly violated by
the beneficiaries and the victims of this terrible practice all over the developing
world. There are ambiguities in the export and manufacturing sector, which means
multiple layers of outsourcing and production- making the monitoring of labor
performers not only difficult but impossible. Extensive subcontracting also makes it
impossible to identify the use of child labor whether intentional or unintentional.

Even when laws or codes of conduct exist, they are often violated. The Indian
constitution categorically states that child labor is a wrong practice, and standards
should be set by law to eliminate it. The child labor act of 1986 implemented by the
government of India makes child labor illegal in many regions and sets the
minimum age of employment at fourteen years.

There are many loop holes in this law in terms of affectivity. First is that it does not
make child labor completely illegal and does not meet the guidelines set by ILO
concerning the minimum age for employment, which is fifteen years. Moreover the
policies which are set to reduce incidences of child labor are difficult to implement
and enforce. The government and other agencies responsible for the enforcement
of these laws are not doing their job. Without proper enforcement all policies and
laws concerning child labor prove useless.

Moreover certain sectors like agriculture and domestic work are not included in the
exemption of child labor. In some countries very strict child labor laws exist but the
offices and departments responsible for implementing them are under funded and
under staffed. The judicial machinery and courts are also found to be faltering and
falting where proper enforcement of such laws is concerned. Many state
governments are feisty in allocating resources to enforce child labor laws.

There are also many loop holes while setting laws and rules for child labor which
allows exploitation. For example in Nepal, the minimum age for a person to go for
work is 14 years, but plantation of brick clines is exempted from this.
 Kenya prohibits children under 16 from going to work in industries but excludes
agriculture. Bangladesh also specifies a minimum age to go to work, but excludes
agriculture and domestic work.

Indeed laws become unpractical and redundant in the face of necessity. Poor
children and their family members depend so much on little ones to provide the
basic necessities of life in the impoverished areas that it becomes impossible for
them to adhere to any laws and regulations regarding child labor. We must also
remember, that about one fifth of the world’s six billion humans live in absolute
poverty.

Child Labour Policy in India

There are specific clauses in the draft of Indian constitution dated 26th January
1950, about the child labor policy in India. These are conveyed through different
articles in the Fundamental rights and the Directive Principles of the State Policy.
They lay down four specific policy rules regarding child labor.

They are as following:- 1) ( Article 14) No child below the age of 14 years shall be
employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous
employment.

2) Article 39-E) The state shall direct its policy towards securing that the health and
strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of children are not abused
and that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to
there are and strength.

3) ( Article 39-f ) Children shall be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a

healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and
youth shall be protected against moral and material abandonment.

4) (Article 45 ) The state shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from
the commencement of the constitution for free and compulsory education for all
children until they complete the age of fourteen years. It was also decided that both
the Union government and the State government could legislate on matters
concerning child labor. Various legislative initiatives were also taken in this regard
at both the State and Union level.

The main legislative measures at the national level are The Child Labor Prohibition
and Regulation Act -1986 and The Factories Act -1948. The first act was categorical
in prohibiting the employment of children below fourteen years of age, and
identified 57 processes and 13 occupations which were considered dangerous to the
health and lives of children. The details of these occupations and processes are
listed in the schedule to the said Act.
 The factories act again prohibits the employment of children less than fourteen
years of age. However an adolescent aged between 15 and 18 can be recruited for
factory employment only after securing a fitness certificate from a medical doctor
who is authorized. The Act proceeds to prescribe only four and and hour’s work
period per day for children between 14 and 18 years. Children are also not allowed
to work in night shifts.

Moreover, in the year 1996 the Supreme Court of India came out with a judgment
in court that directed the State and Union government to make a list of all children
embroiled in hazardous occupations and processes. They were then told to pull
them out of work and asked to provide them with proper education of quality. The
judiciary also laid down that Child Labor and Welfare Fund is set up. The
contribution for this was to be received from employers who contravened the Child
Labor Act.

India is also a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO
Abolition of Forced Convention – No 105 and ILO Forced labor Convention – No. 29.
A National Labor Policy was also adopted in the year 1987 in accordance with
India’s development strategies and aims. The National Policy was designed to
reinforce the directive principles of state policy in the Indian constitution.
Child Labour The Real Situation
The term ‘child labor’ means ‘working child’ or ‘employed child’. ‘Child labor’ is any
work done by child for profit. ‘Child labor’ is a derogatory term which translates into
child exploitation and inhumanity according to sociologists, development workers,
medical professionals and educationists. They have identified child labor as harmful
and hazardous to the child’s development needs, both mental and physical.

SHRI V.V. Giri – the former president of India has arrived on two concepts of child
labor – first as a bad economic practice and second as an overt social evil. In the
first it is involvement of a child labor in profitable activities to augment the family
income. The second context, namely child labor a social evil – is more complex in
nature and extent. In order to assess the nature of the evil, and gauge the extent of
damage it becomes necessary to understand the character of the job in which the
child is engaged, the dangers to which they are exposed and the development
opportunities they are denied. Technically the term ‘child labour’ is used for
children occupied in profitable activities, whether industrial or non industrial. It is
especially applicable for activities which are detrimental to their physical,
psychological, emotional, social and moral development needs. It has been
researched and proved that the brain of a child develops till the age of ten, muscles
till the age of seventeen and his lungs till the age of fourteen. To be more specific,
any activity which acts as a hazard for the natural growth and enhancement of
these vital organs, can be considered harmful for natural human growth and
development and termed – ‘child labor’. It has been observed in India and other
countries, that the practice of ‘child labor’ is a socio- economic problem. Many
appalling relities like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, low wages, ignorance,
social prejudices, regressive traditions, poor standard of living, backwardness,
superstition, low status of women have combined to give birth to the terrible
practice of child labor. Mr. Madan, Deputy Director in the Ministry of labor has been
quoted as saying that “the children are required to seek employment either to
augment the income of their families or to have a gainful occupation in the absence
of availability of school going facilities at various places.”

It has been observed and repeatedly stated in recent times that ‘child labor’ does
not remain a mere means of economic exploitation but has become a necessity due
to the economic needs of the parents and the child himself. Professor Gangrade has
iterated that child labor is also caused by different factors like social traditions,
family attitude, customs, and dearth of schools or parental reluctance to send
children to school, industrialization, urbanization, migration etc. To counter the real
situation called child labor and save little humans from abuse at a tender age, the
government should be compelled to provide compulsory and free education to all
children up to the age of fourteen years. The recommendations of the convention
No.138 should be kept in mind by those who formulate child labor laws. The working
age limit for an individual should also be raised to allow consistent and full physical
and mental growth for every individual.
Bonded Child Labour in India
The most inhuman and onerous form of child exploitation is the age old practice of
bonded labor in India. In this, the child is sold to the loaner like a commodity for a
certain period of time. His labor is treated like security or collateral security and
cunning rich men procure them for small sums at exorbitant interest rates.

The children who are sold as bonded labor only get a handful of coarse grain to
keep them alive in return for their labor. Sometimes their period of thrall extends
for a life time, and they have to simply toil hard and depend on the mercy of their
owners, without any hope of release or redemption. The impoverished parents of
the bonded child is usually a poor, uneducated landless laborer and the mortgagee
is traditionally some big landlord, money lender or a big business man who thrives
on their vulnerability to such exploitation. The practice of bonded child labor is
prevalent in many parts of rural India, but is very conspicuously in the Vellore
district of Tamil Nadu. Here the bonded child is allowed to reside with his parents, if
he presents himself for work at 8 a.m. every day. The practice of child bonded labor
persists like a scourge to humanity in spite of many laws against it. These laws
although stringent and providing for imprisonment and imposition of huge fines on
those who are found guilty are literally non- functional in terms of implementation.

However most of their efforts were sabotaged by high level government officials
covering the fact that children were doing bonded work in factory promises. They
deliberately employed their energy in running public awareness campaigns and
made claims of creating propaganda against child labor, instead of punishing erring
employers and freeing and rehabilitating the bonded children.

Governments did take few directions on the right track initially, but most of their
efforts came to naught with time. Moreover the government efforts did not reach
high profile industries like bidi, cigarette making and carpet weaving. According to
Cousen Neff - an official of the Human Rights watch – “Instead of living up to its
promises, the Indian government is starting to backtrack, claiming the problem is
being solved. Our research shows that it is not.”

Neff also identified a major link between caste and bondage in Indian society. Dalit
family’s functions as bonded labor due to caste based discrimination and violence
and not poverty in many cases. The caste system in India is one of the main
foundations on which the edifice of bonded labor rests. Dalits or the so called
untouchable are denied access to land in India, forced to work in inhuman
conditions, and expected to perform labor for free. This is due to the so called upper
castes boycotting them socially and subjecting them to economic exploitation. This
attitude of society keeps the poor families bonded in a scourge of perpetual poverty
and labor. It is now very important for all International donors to put pressure on the
Indian government to enforce bonded labor and child labor laws in the country. To
find more child labor
Stop Child Labor
The future of a community is in the well being of its children. The above fact is
beautifully expressed by Wordsworth in his famous lines “child is father of the
man”. So it becomes imperative for the health of a nation to protect its children
from premature labor which is hazardous to their mental, physical, educational and
spiritual development needs. It is urgently required to save children from the
murderous clutches of social injustice and educational deprivation, and ensure that
they are given opportunities for healthy, normal and happy growth.

The venerable Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore has said time and again, that every
country is absolutely bound by its duty to provide free primary education to its
children. It is important to remember that industrialization can afford to wait but
youth cannot be captured for long. It is imperative that the basic tenet made in
article 24 of the Indian constitution - prohibiting the employment of any child below
fourteen years of age, in a factory, mine or any other hazardous employment be
stopped – be adhered to. There should be no ambiguity in ensuring the right of
every child to free basic education and the promise of the constitution should be
fully implemented in the here and now.

Projects related with human resource development, dedicated to the child welfare
issues must be given top priority by the central and state governments to stop the
menace of child labor. Child labor laws need to be strictly implemented at the
central and state levels. Corruption and negligence in child labor offices and
employee circles should be dealt with very strictly by the judiciary and the police
force.

The development needs of growing children can only be provided for, by stopping
the onerous practice of child labor in organized and non organized sectors with
utmost sincerity. This is the only way a nation can train its children to be
wholesome future citizens, who are happy and prosperous. The provision of equal
and proper opportunities for the educational needs of growing children in
accordance with constitutional directives will go a long way in stopping the evil
practice of child labor.

Concerned about the future of its children India has implemented a country- wide
ban recently, on children below fourteen working in the hospitality sector and as
domestics. It is intended that those who are found to violate the law will be fined
with 430 dollars and sent into rigorous imprisonment for two years. Children in India
are not allowed to work in mines, factories and other hazardous jobs already. Two
more professions have been added in a list of fifty seven occupations which were
considered hazardous for a child’s development needs in the ‘child labor act’
passed in 1986. Childs rights activists are waxing eloquent in high pitched voices
about the absolute importance of stopping child labor. But legislation in this regard
is just like an intention. It is more important to take development measures to
ensure its practical application by eliminating the reasons of child labor from our
society. The reasons giving birth to child labor are poverty, illiteracy, scarcity of
schools, ignorance, socially regressive practices, blind customs and traditions,
migration and last but not the least corruption amongst employees and government
labor organizations. People should not be able to get away with employing and
exploiting children.