• All forms of slavery or practices analogous to slavery, such as sale and trafficking in children;
• Debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced and obligatory recruitment for children to be used in armed conflict;
• Use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
• Use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, including drug trafficking;
• Any type of work that is likely to harm a child’s health, safety or morals.

Since the enactment of the Convention No.182, the child labor has been decreasing, ten percent in years 2000-2004, and three percent in years 2004-2008. The ILO used the 2010 Global Child Labor Conference, which took place on May 10-11, 2010 in Hague, Netherlands, to accelerate the efforts and to lay out a plan in order to achieve the goal of ending the worst forms of child labor by 2016.

Today, there are estimated 218 million children still involved in child labor, including 126 million that are “intolerably exploited,” according to the Red Card to Child Labor campaign. The children range in age from 5 to 17 years old. Majority of child workers do not get paid or are paid very little. Some of the children are kidnapped, some are sold or used to get advance money by their parents, some are lured by promises of education and opportunities for better life, and some are forced to work by their family members. Regardless of the circumstances, the children are denied the joys of childhood, studying and playing with their friends, are emotionally and physically abused, stripped of their sense of worth and freedom.

The International Labor Organization recognizes that there is a difference between a child helping around the house or in a family business after school or during school breaks and work “that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.”

According to another report by the ILO, it would take $760 billion to end child labor. Additionally, the benefits to the countries’ economies are estimated to be $5.1 trillion when they stop using child labor and support the development of infrastructure of responsible business practice with fair wages for adult workers. When manufacturers force and enslave children for work, they take jobs away from adults, contributing to the overall poverty of a society. Since the children are forced to abandon education and their dreams, no development takes place, and the poverty continues to spread from generation and generation. Therefore, child labor has a devastating effect not only on the well being of the children, but also, on the society itself as it is doomed to remain in this vicious circle.

Although, one might think that child labor only takes place in some little village in India or China, it is much more widespread, and we get to see the results of it in our everyday lives and in products we have become so accustomed to. For example, you wake up to an alarm on your cell phone or IPod, which has coltan mined by children in Congo. You drink a cup of coffee collected by children in Brazil. You put on a T-shirt made out of cotton collected by children in Uzbekistan. You grab your bag and put on shoes sewn by children in Chinese sweatshops, and walk on a rug, woven by children in Pakistan. And all that just in the beginning of your day… With explosion of new technologies, new resources become essential and sought after. The cheaper the production cost, the bigger the profit. Cheap labor and low infrastructure cost contribute to larger profits. That is why child labor is so popular – most of the time, children do not get paid and work better than adults in conditions of poor lighting and confined spaces. Children are also more prone to manipulation and can be easily broken and forced to work. Children are frightened, scared, and homesick, and will not easily rebel against inhumane treatment by their masters.

It is time to put an end to child labor. Join millions that are fighting to end child labor and exploitation. Support products and foods that have been produced without using child labor. Demand manufacturers to ensure that no child labor is used in their supply chain. Write to your legislators to establish stricter standards for companies and monitor compliance. Until now, larger profits have been driving the demand for cheaper labor, but no child should be a subject to enslavement and forced labor so that corrupted middlemen and large companies can make a buck. Support organizations that are fighting to end despicable practice of sexual exploitation of children. Forced labor and sexual abuse go hand in hand for some of the enslaved children. Girls especially get sold into sex industry later on. The International Labor Organization is urging the world leaders to not slow down but keep pressing on in order to end the worst forms of child labor by 2016. Everyone gets only one childhood, and these 218 million children deserve to get their childhood back.

Sources Used:

Facts on Child Labor 2010 by ILO

http://www.ilo.org/ipec/