Child Labor

Although "child labor is a violation of human rights," it is a necessary act in many countries. At least 250 million children between 5 and 14 are involved in child labor in the world today. And this is mainly found in developing countries since they don't have enough people in the working age group to support the younger and older groups. A lot of the developing countries have an economy that is largely effected by child labor. This is one of the reasons why child labor is necessary. For example, as shown on the film we watched in class, Pakistan is a country that uses child labor to produce carpets. But the export of these carpets happens to be a huge part of Pakistan's economy. So, imagine taking child labor away from the carpet factories. What would happen to Pakistan? Also, where will these children go if child labor was to disappear? This brings up another reason why child labor is necessary. Even though the working conditions for the children may be tough, when they lose they're jobs, most of them would have nowhere to go since they might have been trafficked from one place to another or would have lost contact with their families. The world outside for the homeless children would be worse as they might get involved in things like prostitution and drugs. For example, in Case study #1, imagine Rita escaping from her employer. In the UK she would have no contact with her families, no passport nor money, and she would have to find someway to survive. The easiest and quickest way would be becoming a prostitute. But, would this be a better life for her than the one she had back under her employer? In addition, if these children still have contact with their families, the only reason they are involved in child labor would be to support their families with the money they earn or were forced to work there to pay off family depts. For example, a lot of the Pakistani children in the carpet factories are there due to passed down family depts.

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