Child Labor

Child Labor refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work

that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to
attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally
harmful.

Child labor has existed to varying extents throughout history. During the
19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer
families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike. These children
mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories,
mining, and services such as news boys - some worked night shifts lasting
12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and
passage of child labor laws, the incidence rates of child labor fell.
In the world's poorest countries, around one in four children are engaged in
child labor, the highest number of whom (29 percent) live in sub-saharan
Africa. In 2017, four African nations (Mali, Benin, Chad and Guinea-Bissau)
witnessed over 50 percent of children aged 5–14 working. Worldwide
agriculture is the largest employer of child labor. The vast majority of child
labor is found in rural settings and informal urban economies; children are
predominantly employed by their parents, rather than factories. Poverty and
lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labor.
Globally the incidence of child labor decreased from 25% to 10% between
1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank. Nevertheless, the total
number of child laborers remains high, with UNICEF and ILO acknowledging
an estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide were involved in
child labor in 2013.

Causes
Poverty and its related problems are some of the main causes of child labor
in Ethiopia. The 2001 survey reported that about 90 per cent of the children
working in productive activities replied that they were working to either
supplement family income (23.8 per cent) or to improve it (66.0 per cent).
Poverty in Ethiopia is chronic due to, among others, population pressure,
land degradation, unemployment and under-employment among adults and
school leavers (youth). Children are paid lower wages than adults, not
unionized, and do not demand workers’ rights. They are also thought by
some to be more efficient in certain types of work, though this has not been
demonstrated. Thus, these people tend to prefer child workers to adults.

The other main cause of child labor is cultural values. The Ethiopian culture
encourages children to work to develop skills. Children are considered as
assets to generate income in time of poverty. Children should, therefore, be
given work at home early in life and be obliged to assist parents.

Other reasons include educational problems, like distance from school, poor
quality of education, over-crowding, inability to support schooling (food,
uniforms, exercise books, school fees, etc.); family disintegration due to
divorce; various conflicts, war and civil strife; drought and resettlement;
orphan hood due to AIDS; and rapid urbanization.

Consequences
Children are exposed to accidental and other injuries at work. They should
thus be protected to prevent social, economic and physical harm, which
persist to affect them during their lifetime. Such injuries include.

 General child injuries and abuses like cuts, burns and lacerations,
fractures, tiredness and dizziness, excessive fears and nightmares.
 Sexual abuse, particularly sexual exploitation of girls by adults, rape,
prostitution, early and unwanted pregnancy, abortion, Sexually
Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS, drugs and alcoholism.
 Physical abuse that involve corporal punishment, emotional
maltreatment such as blaming, belittling, verbal attacks, rejection,
humiliation and bad remarks.
 Emotional neglect such as deprivation of family love and affection,
resulting in loneliness, and hopelessness.
 Physical neglect like lack of adequate provision of food, clothing,
shelter and medical treatment.
 Lack of schooling results in missing educational qualifications and
higher skills thus perpetuating their life in poverty.
 Competition of children with adult workers leads to depressing wages
and salaries.
Prevention
There is a need to develop an integrated policy and programme of action
worldwide to provide quality, universal and free education that is relevant
and accessible to children of poor families to which the majority of child
laborers belong. Child labor concerns should be explicitly addressed and
integrated into such a policy. A holistic approach to education is necessary.
In addition, quality education must not stop at primary level if young people
are to be adequately prepared for the labor market and for decent work
within it, rather than being confined to low-skilled, unprotected jobs in the
informal economy.

Experience has shown that providing basic literacy and numeric skills
through non-formal education does not guarantee that children will be
permanently withdrawn from work, which is why mainstreaming these
children into formal education systems is vital. Furthermore, investments in
basic education normally only reach the more privileged social groups,
whereas efforts should be spread more evenly, focusing more on children at
risk. Social exclusion mechanisms are another strong factor that keep
children out of school and push them into work.

There is a need to give priority to the expansion of public educational

systems to accommodate the numbers of children who still do not have
access to school. This means that:

 More schools need to be built, teachers need to be recruited and

trained and educational materials need to be made available.
 Alternative approaches need to be developed to provide for the
education of children when geographical conditions pose obstacles or
the community’s lifestyle involves mobility.
 The formal and non-formal education systems need to be linked in a
more systematic manner to allow for easier transitions from the non-
formal to the formal sector, and both systems need to be improved
and upgraded in many countries.
 School admission and retention policies should facilitate the entry or
re-entry of children into schools by providing alternative placement
options and independent learning approaches with adequate guidance
and support for over-aged children or children who re-enter school.