POVERTY AND IGNORANCE GIVES BIRTH TO CHILD LABOR AND CHILD EXPLOITATION.
One of the very best ways to fight child labor or child abuse and exploitation is to STOP it before it happens.
- According to ILO, "8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities.
- Also every year 22,000 children die in work related accidents".
- An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people around the world are trafficked into forced labor and forced prostitution each year.
According to a UN Press Release, June 14th, 2004, " 10 million children exploited for domestic labor". Country surveys indicate about 700,000 children are domestic workers in Indonesia alone, while Brazil 559,000, Pakistan 264,000, Haiti 250,000, Kenya 200,000 and Srilanka 100,000, in which 70 percent are women and 50 percent are CHILDREN!
It is a wake up call for all of us.
The developed world is not totally free for that problem, but the largest number of child workers are concentrated in Asia and Africa because of
1. Raising poverty.
2. Reclining economic growth.
3. Imposed conditons on poor countries by World Bank and IMF for receiving debt relief and new loan makes poor countries more poor and rich counrries more rich, that directly lower the poor countries' economical growth.
4. Corruption among law enforcement officials and government agencies also plays a key role in the successful operation of the criminal network that traffic in the human slave labor.
When a child works, it takes a place of one adult, one who are now unemployed and if he could employed he is getting close to four or five times more wages than a child. If child labor continue, we are creating the biggest hurdle to distribution of profit, of wealth. Poverty cannot be eradicated until money is distributed, until it comes down to be spread among all of the people.
Pay the workers a fair and just wage, with rights regarding working conditions, so that children are not forced to work to supplement their families' income.
Child labor involves having children work at agriculture, factories and other kinds of labor for little or no pay. Hours are long and breaks are minimal. Often, children work for their food. Working conditions are often physically harmful and children receive no medical care or proper nutrition, as well as frequent physical abuse. They are also deprived of education, eliminating their chances of ever breaking out of this circle of slavery. Stripped of all forms of family support and care, these children become the victims of lasting physical and psychological harm.
We all together can make a world better place for all human being, no matter where are they live, in United State or in the third world countries. Like these two little boys, who are distributing flyer to promote education.
