Mohammed Shafiq Hanif - 100134260

Assignment 2 Matune
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LAW
(6LA523)

Word count - 2582

Contents
Executive summery......................................................................................................3
The facts.......................................................................................................................4
Discussion....................................................................................................................5
The leadership..........................................................................................................5
What the problem is..............................................................................................5
Why it happens......................................................................................................5
Solutions to the problem........................................................................................6
Child labour...............................................................................................................7
What the problem is..............................................................................................7
Why it happens......................................................................................................7
Solutions to the problem........................................................................................8
Forced labour............................................................................................................9
What the problem is..............................................................................................9
Why it happens......................................................................................................9
Solutions to the problem......................................................................................10
Environment regulations.........................................................................................11
What the problem is.............................................................................................11
Why it happens....................................................................................................11
Solutions to the problem......................................................................................11
Conclusion..................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................12

Executive summery
This assignment will address four issues prevalent within Matune;

corruption
child labour
forced labour
environment issues

These issues have been highlighted by the Mantune government as problems

halting the economic and social development of Matune and have requested and
analysis of these with recommendations. Some of the recommendations are as
follows;

write laws into constitution

ask aid from international organizations
hire third parties to take part to encourage transparency and to negate
corruption

The facts
The intention of this report is to create awareness and knowledge for the problems
afflicting Matune and to provide alternative means of sustainable development to
compliment and to ensure new laws and legislation and are acted upon and not
ignored.
Matune is a sovereign country in the north east of Africa and has had it democracy
and sovereignty for ten years since its general election in 2001; being in its infancy
there are no surprises there are issues with the implementation of regulations and
poor economic growth. Matune has a history fraught with problems which have
halted its development as it was left with poor leadership, from colonial rule from
1800s to civil war within the 1900 Matune was never really had stable leadership to
be able to develop its economy. Now that these problems have seemingly subsided
Matune wishes to attract foreign investors to help on the long road out of the
developing world.
A 90% poverty and high crime rate from 2001 to the current date are given as the
reason for the halted the development of infrastructure such as schools, hospitals
and roads. Along with these issues, today the main problems are child labour, the
forced labour of women and the infrastructure facilitating this. And also their
unenforced environment regulations are fast becoming a growing issue.

Discussion
The leadership
What the problem is
Matune has had weak leadership for a very long time and nothing has really
changed, this is evident in their economic standing today, now that the government
wants to force change there are many issues surrounding this. This is that due to a
poor social infrastructure, vast poverty and no consideration for other people, this
has lead to a poor business culture and no confidence for the government.
This business culture encourages child labour, ignores environment legislation and
enforces the trafficking of women for the use of forced labour. This has lead to the
acceptance of these types of values, attitudes and actions within business; and they
are accepted within Matune and seen as insignificant. This has a negative effect on
sustainability as businesses keep doing the minimum or the illegal with regard to
labour and environment and this is not acceptable on the international markets as it
would give them an unfair competitive edge.

Why it happens
Transparency International (2015) states that 80% of people within Africa live on less
than 2 US dollars a day, stating the reason for this being corruption. Poverty might
also be the reason for Matunes political corruption, the poverty rate of 90% might be
the driving factor for the theft of regeneration money and lack of transparency.
The European (2015) published an article stating four reasons for political corruption;
the first being a politicians own aspirations of being within the rich and elite
communities, but the civil service doesnt pay very well. The politicians would align
themselves with certain circles and get laws and legislation enforced on their behalf
to help achieve their aspirations. The second being the lifestyle and obligations of a
politician; they are expected to be almost in human, travel often and be away from
their friends and family. The monetary gain from the amount of work they do is not
worth their time so they seek other means of getting of prosperity. The third is
demonization of politics within media; this stops any neutral discussions and is just
pointing the blame. The forth is transition to a consumer democracy from a post
democracy. The European (2015) blames the hedonistic middle class voters for not
taking part in difficult discussions which has lead to the watering down of political
debate.
Transparency International (2015) also points out that there is a link between
electoral campaign expense and political corruption. This means in order to raise the

funds to win elections, politicians and parties do favours for contributions for the
donators.
Solutions to the problem
In Reinert (2008) book he eludes that rich countries got where they are today by
government intervention, protectionism and strategic investment rather than free
trade. Countries like Britain and the USA have built their domestic industries and
social infrastructure whilst their economies where protected by legalisation and high
import taxes; and they exported their goods across the world but now they
encourage free trade to the leaders of developing countries. The first steps the
leaders of Matune have to take are to adopt a protectionist way of thinking to enable
the growth and protection of the industries operating within Matune and to almost
mimic the ways developed countries gained success.
Matune should also appoint independent regulators who have access to government
records and data to ensure they are being transparent, this regulator would need
legislation put in place to give it power and the parameters it would operate under.
Also they should implement strict laws when concerning corruption, ranging from
treason to being banned from politics altogether and maybe developed countries
could back this by offering aid or incentives as long as the government remains
transparent.

Child labour
What the problem is
Another of the issues affecting Matune is child labour; countries in Africa have the
worst and highest rates of child labour. Child labour negatively affects a childs
physical and mental development, deprives them of a childhood and keeps the
negative slavery cycle going on to further generations due to lack of education. The
International Labour Organization (ILO) (2009) defines child labour as being
mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and
interferes with their schooling by:

depriving them of schooling

making them leave school early
making them combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy
work

The ILO (2009) also adds that extreme forums of child labour involve slavery,
separation from families, exposure to hazards and illnesses and to leave a child to
fend for themselves in big cities. They also estimate that 41% aged 5 to 14 are
participating in economic activity of some sort, this is 11% more than Asia which has
the second highest levels of child labour.
Why it happens
Child labour can happen for a number of reasons, the most common one shown in
western media is African child soldiers but there are many other reasons why this
happens. The biggest factor concerning child labour in Matune is probably poverty
and poor government legislation. A child working can be vital to a familys survival
due to reasons such as economic, natural or agricultural crisis or having to work to
support family members due to parents falling ill with a serious disease.
Basu (2003) states that in countries with high child labour rates have the least basic
education and it is not available for all children due to their location. In impoverished
nations many children are in remote rural areas so they dont have access to
schooling, even if they did the access to schools might not be free or they might
have hidden charges such as stationary, books and uniforms etc. Basu (2003) states
further that the quality of the education is so low that parents dont see any value in
sending their children anyway. This regurgitates the cycle of poverty and traps whole
families for generations and also in many culture girls are not expected to work, so
their parents dont see the value of educating them; or children are expected to take
over the family business so it is beneficial for them to start early. Another reason why
child labour happens is that there might be exemption within law; for example in
Kenya the minimum age of work is 16 but excludes agriculture and in Bangladesh
the minimum age but has no set regulations.

The newest push factor to child labour is the global economy; employers may
aggressively hire children due to it being cheaper than hiring adults and that they are
easier to manage. This is in effort to drive down costs and keep the global
companies satisfied with low cost manufacturing and under free trade rules it might
be impossible to impose considerations to child and forced labour.
Solutions to the problem
The elimination of child labour will be the start of breaking the intergenerational
cycles of poverty; this can be done by make child labour unnecessary for family
security by providing economic, social and political security which is enforced by
heavy punishments such as jail or confiscation of business for repeat offenders.
Mantune should get rid of child labour by outlawing child labour any form until the
age of sixteen, they should provide child benefit as a means of security for families
and put child labour policies such as Convention No.138 on the Minimum Age for
Admission to Employment, 1973 and Convention No/182 on the Worst Forms of
Child Labour, 1999 into their constitution (United Nations, 2014).
Some other regulations Matune can do is put a clause in the contract of sale stating
all people trading with Matune must pay some sort of tax or extra money as a
concession which contributes to fund childrens protection via free schooling and
benefits. Also Matune should open up free schools and make sure children attend
and Matune should be given aid for this if they cant afford it.

Forced labour
What the problem is
The ILO defines forced labour as all work or service that is exacted from any
persons under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not
offered himself voluntarily. Forced labour is similar to child labour but the percentage
of adults that are forced to work are higher than the percentage of children, In
Matune case the majority of the forced labour comes from women. Anti Slavery
(2015) estimate that Africa has an 18% forced labour rate which equates to 3.7
million adults, such forced labour includes labour intensive and under regulated
industries such as;

fishing
farming and agriculture
domestic work
construction and brick kiln work
mining and quarrying
manufacturing
illegal activities, market trading, prostitution and sexual exploitation

Aiding to this problem is the infrastructure facilitation the forced labour of women,
these women come from somewhere unwillingly and no one is punished even
though it is common knowledge that these people are being exploited; also it is
important to note that forced labour is very similar to slavery and in many cases
people are not even paid for the labour they have done.
Why it happens
Forced labour mostly happens to cut costs and to gain more money, this has push
and pull factors; people who occupy themselves to gather forced laborers find the
most venerable people of societies where laws are rarely enforced to corruption or
location. The push factors come from venerable people trying to make a better life
for themselves, the people the most at risk are;

people suffering from poverty; absolute or relative

lack of employment or job opportunities
poor education and life skills
poor family structures and dysfunctional family situations
racism and discriminatory actions such as unequal pay etc

The pull factors come into play when there is a shortage of labour including;

employers directly demand cheap and easily exploitable labour to improve

their competitive advantage and profits
and consumers indirectly demand cheap goods and services which include
cheap domestic services and affordable sexual activities

Solutions to the problem

Forced labour will be a difficult thing to combat as the issues within Matune are just
scratching the surface, the ILO (2009) state the biggest driver of forced labour is the
global economy and the push and pull factors that drive people to seek out better
prospects and other to take advantage of other people human rights.
Matune needs to create a positive work environment where people dont want or
need to travel to far off and out the way areas to find work, they should employ a
third party workers union to actively monitor workers situations and to prosecute
people who breach new regulations such as a minimum wage, no forced labour and
safe working conditions. If these conditions are not met the business that has
breached them should be closed down and repeat offenders should have their
business taken away and it should be given as a social business to the employees.
This is a sure fire way to get rid of forced labour, if the employees own everything
there will be no problems, also cases of slavery or forced labour without pay should
be treated as treason and should carry a death penalty.
Another method can be that Mantune charge less tax to companies who dont use
forced labour in efforts to keep them competitive with businesses that do, also there
should be payments to companies who are compliant are protected to make sure
they dont go out of business. Matune could also implement the Forced Labour
Conventions, 1939 and put this in as a clause within the contract of sale and any
company not compliant is in breach and can be sued etc in international court.

Environment regulations
What the problem is
The problem is that businesses within Matune dont care for the environment and
pollute to their hearts content, this isnt surprising that this is happening in a
developing country as they have making profits as their number one priority and the
government has in this case child and forced labour to worry about which are bigger
issues.
Why it happens
Matune is a developing nation and does not regulate the damage it does to the
environment; this is due to an insufficient capability to enforce these laws. These
laws are unfair as the developing world didnt have to abide by these laws and in the
case with the USA still does not abide by them. Also this issue can arise due to the
cost of improving operations to meet environment regulations or corruption in which
people will take the money intended for improvements for themselves.
(United Nations Environment Programme, 2015)
Solutions to the problem
Normally these regulations are forced on developing countries by bigger and
stronger nations, Matune should request money in return for meeting environment
legislation due to losing their competitive advantage on the global marketplace. Also
the biggest and most successful polluters within Matune should be money in the
form of cheap long term loans or free money to improve their organizations
emissions.

Conclusion
Matunes future is entirely dependent on the government, and how corrupt it is willing
to be. To avoid this they need to make politics a transparent place where the majority
of the information is checked by a third party and where the employees dont feel the
need to partake in corruption or are so scared of the laws they dont do it. In regard
to the forced labour of children and women, these issues can only be combated by
increased international reforms and by the developed world actively putting a stop to
it. In many cases the employers that use forced labour will just over their operations
somewhere else and nothing gets done. The environmental issues are going to be
the most difficult to tackle as the developing countries spewed out toxins while they
were going through their industrial revolutions and now actively shun and force
developing countries to pay up; this being said Matune should request free finance
and management of these issues, in other words wash their hands of it and let a
developed country take charge of the matter.

References
Anti Slavery . 2015. Forced Labour. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/forced_labour/default.aspx.
[Accessed 14 May 15].
Basu, K. (2003). Social Sciences . The Global Child Labor Problem: What Do We
Know and What Can We Do?. 17 (2), 147-173
International Labour Organisation. 2009. Child labour in Africa. [ONLINE] Available
at: http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/Africa/lang--en/index.htm. [Accessed
27 April 15].
Reinert, E (2008). How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor.
New York: Public Affairs. 5-8.
The European. 2015. The Gratification Business. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.theeuropean-magazine.com/thomas-kliche--2/6299-five-reasons-forpolitical-corruption. [Accessed 27 April 15].
Transparency International . 2015. Poverty and corruption in Africa. [ONLINE]
Available at:
http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/activity/poverty_and_corruption_in_africa.
[Accessed 27 April 15].
United Nations . 2014. Child Labour. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/childlabour/intlconvs.shtml.
[Accessed 14 May 15].
United Nations Environment Programme. 2015. Progressive Development of
Environmental Law . [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.unep.org/delc/ProgressiveDevelopment/tabid/78545/Default.aspx.
[Accessed 14 May 15].