What is Child Labor?

Child labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. Around
the world and in the U. S., growing gaps between rich and poor in recent decades have
forced millions of young children out of school and into work. The International Labor
Organization estimates that 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently
work under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative.
Underage children work at all sorts of jobs around the world, usually because they and
their families are extremely poor. Large numbers of children work in commercial
agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, and domestic service. Some children work
in illicit activities like the drug trade and prostitution or other traumatic activities such
as serving as soldiers.

Child labor involves at least one of the following characteristics:

 Violates a nation’s minimum age laws

 Threatens children’s physical, mental, or emotional well-being
 Involves intolerable abuse, such as child slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage,
forced labor, or illicit activities
 Prevents children from going to school
 Uses children to undermine labor standards

Where does most child labor occur?

Of an estimated 215 child laborers around the globe: approximately 114 million (53%)
are in Asia and the Pacific; 14 million (7%) live in Latin America; and 65 million (30%)
live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Child labor can be found in nearly every industry

Agriculture
An estimated 60% of child labor occurs in agriculture, fishing, hunting, and forestry.
Children have been found harvesting:

 bananas in Ecuador
 cotton in Egypt and Benin
 cut flowers in Colombia
 oranges in Brazil
 cocoa in the Ivory Coast
  tea in Argentina and Bangladesh
 fruits and vegetables in the U.S.

Children in commercial agriculture can face long hours in extreme temperatures,

health risks from pesticides, little or no pay, and inadequate food, water, and sanitation.

Manufacturing

Electroplate Worker
Photo: David Parker

About 14 million children are estimated to be directly involved in manufacturing

goods, including:

 Carpets from India, Pakistan, Egypt

 Clothing sewn in Bangladesh; footwear made in India and the Philippines
 Soccer balls sewn in Pakistan
 Glass and bricks made in India
 Fireworks made in China, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala,
India, and Peru
 Surgical instruments made in Pakistan

Mining and Quarrying

Photo: David Parker

Child laborers suffer extremely high illness and injury rates in underground mines,
opencast mines, and quarries. Children as young as 6 or 7 years old break up rocks, and
wash, sieve, and carry ore. Nine-year-olds work underground setting explosives and
carrying loads. Children work in a range of mining operations, including:

 Gold in Colombia
 Charcoal in Brazil and El Salvador
 Chrome in Zimbabwe
 Diamonds in Cote d’Ivoire
 Emeralds in Colombia
 Coal in Mongolia

Domestic Service
Many children, especially girls, work in domestic service, sometimes starting as young
as 5 or 6. This type of child labor is linked to child trafficking. Domestic child laborers
can be victims of physical, emotional, and sometimes sexual abuse.

Hotels, Restaurants, and Retail

Photo: David Parker

 Some of the work of young people in this sector is considered legitimate, but there are
indications of considerable abuse. Low pay is the norm, and in some tourist areas,
children’s work in hotels and restaurants is linked to prostitution. In at least one
example, child hotel workers received such low pay that they had to take out loans from
their employers; the terms of the interest and repayment often led to debt bondage.

“Unconditional Worst Forms” of Child Labor

Child Prostitute
Photo: David Parker

Millions of children are involved in work that, under any circumstance, is considered
unacceptable for children, including the sale and trafficking of children into debt
bondage, serfdom, and forced labor. It includes the forced recruitment of children for
armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation, and illicit activities, such as producing
and trafficking drugs. In 2005, an estimated 5.7 million children were in forced and
bonded labor.

Causes of Child Labor

Child labor persists even though laws and standards to eliminate it exist. Current
causes of global child labor are similar to its causes in the U.S. 100 years ago, including
poverty, limited access to education, repression of workers’ rights, and limited
prohibitions on child labor.

Poverty and unemployment levels are high.

Poor children and their families may rely upon child labor in order to improve their
chances of attaining basic necessities. More than one-fourth of the world's people live in
extreme poverty, according to 2005 U.N. statistics. The intensified poverty in parts of
Africa, Asia, and Latin America causes many children there to become child laborers.

Access to compulsory, free education is limited.

Photo: David Parker

In 2006, approximately 75 million children were not in school, limiting future

opportunities for the children and their communities. A 2009 report by the United
Nations estimated that achieving universal education for the world's children would cost
$10-30 billion -- about 0.7% - 2.0% of the annual cost of global military spending.

Existing laws or codes of conduct are often violated.

Even when laws or codes of conduct exist, they are often violated. For example, the
manufacture and export of products often involves multiple layers of production and
outsourcing, which can make it difficult to monitor who is performing labor at each step
of the process. Extensive subcontracting can intentionally or unintentionally hide the
use of child labor.

Carpet Weaver
Nepal, 1993
Photo: David Parker

Laws and enforcement are often inadequate.

Child labor laws around the world are often not enforced or include exemptions that
allow for child labor to persist in certain sectors, such as agriculture or domestic work.
Even in countries where strong child labor laws exist, labor departments and labor
inspection offices are often under-funded and under-staffed, or courts may fail to
enforce the laws. Similarly, many state governments allocate few resources to enforcing
child labor laws.

National Laws Often Include Exemptions

Examples

Nepal
minimum age of 14 for most work...
plantations and brick kilns are exempt.

Kenya
prohibits children under 16 from industrial work...
but excludes agriculture.

Bangladesh
specifies a minimum age for work...
but sets no regulations on domestic work or agricultural work.

Workers’ rights are repressed.

Workers’ abilities to organize unions affect the international protection of
core labor standards, including child labor. Attacks on workers’ abilities to
organize make it more difficult to improve labor standards and living
standards in order to eliminate child labor. For example, in 2010, 5,000
workers were fired and 2,500 workers were arrested as a result of their union
activity, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

The global economy intensifies the effects of some factors.

Photo: David Parker

As multinational corporations expand across borders, countries often

compete for jobs, investment, and industry. This competition sometimes slows
child labor reform by encouraging corporations and governments to seek low
labor costs by resisting international standards. Some U.S. legislation has
begun to include labor standards and child labor as criteria for preferential
 trade and federal contracts. However, international free trade rules may
prohibit consideration of child labor or workers’ rights.
The effects of poverty in developing countries are often worsened by the
large interest payments on development loans. The structural adjustments
associated with these loans often require governments to cut education,
health, and other public programs, further harming children and increasing
pressure on them to become child laborers.

Debt and Child Welfare

The example of Sub-Saharan Africa

Though the region receives $10 billion in aid per year, it loses more than $14
billion in debt payments annually, according to MediaGlobal.
In Malawi, the country spends 40% of its GDP to repay foreign creditors,
while only 15% of GDP is spent on healthcare and education combined.

Health Issues
Physical Differences between Children and Adults May
Increase Children’s Work-related Risks
Working conditions that are safe and healthy for adults may not be safe and healthy
for children because of their physical differences. Risks may be greater for children at
various stages of development and may have long-term effects. Factors that may
increase the health, safety, and developmental risk factors for children include:

Match Factory Worker

India, 1993
Photo: David Parker
  Rapid skeletal growth
 Development of organs and tissues
 Greater risk of hearing loss
 Developing ability to assess risks
 Greater need for food and rest
 Higher chemical absorption rates
 Smaller size
 Lower heat tolerance

Injuries among Young Workers

 One quarter of economically active children suffer injuries or illnesses while

working, according to an International Labor Organization survey of 26
countries.
 Each year, as many as 2.7 million healthy years of life are lost due to child labor,
especially in agriculture.
 Many of the industries that employ large numbers of young workers in the United
States have higher-than-average injury rates for workers of all ages, such as
grocery stores, hospitals, nursing homes, and agriculture.

Why do young workers have more accidents than adults?

Metal Worker
India, 1995
Photo: David Parker
  “Unskilled” and labor-intensive jobs may be risky.
 Training and supervision may be inadequate.
 Work may be illegal and inappropriate.
 Lesser experience at work can increase the risk of accidents.

Poverty: An Additional Risk Factor

 Low-income youth are more likely to work in high-risk occupations such as

agriculture, mining, and construction.
 Poverty-related health problems (e.g., malnutrition, fatigue, anemia) increase the
risks and consequences of work-related hazards and may lead to permanent
disabilities and premature death.

Psychosocial Effects of Child Labor

 Long hours of work on a regular basis can harm children’s social and educational
development.
U.S. adolescents who work more than 20 hours per week have reported more
problem behaviors (e.g., aggression, misconduct, substance use), and sleep
deprivation and related problems (falling asleep in school). They are more likely
to drop out of school and complete fewer months of higher education.
 The unconditional worst forms of child labor (e.g., slavery, soldiering,
prostitution, drug trafficking) may have traumatic effects, including longer term
health and socioeconomic effects.

Hazards of Agricultural Child Labor

Photo: David Parker

Studies in many countries have shown that children working in agriculture suffer
particularly high rates of injury. In the Philippines, for example, a survey found that
children in agriculture had five times greater risk of injury compared with children
working in other industries. (Castro 2010)
Several conditions cause the relatively high rates of injuries, health problems, and
fatalities among agricultural child laborers:

 Exposure to pesticides
 Working with machinery and sharp tools
 Lack of clean water, hand-washing facilities, and toilets
 Beginning to work at very early ages, often between 5-7 years of age
 Less restrictive standards for agricultural work

Ending Child Labor

Unions and grassroots groups are increasingly recognizing direct connections
between worker rights and the fight against child labor. Recognizing child labor as a
violation of children's and workers' rights, trade unions are joining with families and
community organizations to combat child labor, to move children out of work and into
school, and to support core labor standards. Historically and in today’s global economy:

 strong unions are an important protection against child labor

 when parents are able to improve conditions through effective unions, children
are much less likely to have to work
 active struggles against child labor tend to strengthen unions and workers’ rights
in general
 Many workers and unions in the U.S. and other countries are supporting efforts to
end child labor by forging alliances with unions in other countries. These alliances work
to achieve enforceable global labor standards, such as ILO Convention 182, and hold
transnational companies accountable for labor practices.

History’s Strategies Still Apply:

 Union and Community Organizing

 Free Education for All Children
 Campaigns to Change Public Opinion
 Universal Minimum Standards

Examples of Effective Child Labor Solidarity

Global March against Child Labor

Supporting workers’ struggles to organize unions and reject child

labor
In 2001 factory monitors confirmed illegal union-busting and other violations—
including employment of 13-15 year-old children—at a Mexican factory sewing clothing
with university logos for Nike and other U.S. companies. Thousands of American
students, workers, and consumers wrote letters to corporate CEOs protesting worker
treatment. The international solidarity campaign helped factory workers overcome
violence, intimidation, and mass firings when they tried to organize, and after months of
struggle, workers won an independent union.
 In 2002, as news of child labor abuses and attacks on workers in Ecuador’s banana
plantations spread around the world, workers, consumers, and students contacted Los
Alamos plantation owner Alvaro Noboa to demand that he recognize the workers’ union
and cease using illegal child labor. Presidents of the AFL-CIO, the International Union
of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), the Teamsters, and many other labor leaders also
issued letters in support of Los Alamos workers’ struggle.

Campaigning for institutions to adopt and enforce codes of

conduct

When the 2000 Olympics were held in Sydney, Australia, Australian labor federations
created and signed an agreement with the Olympic organizing committee requiring all
sponsors and licensees to adhere to minimum labor standards, including international
conventions on child labor.
Pressure from human rights groups, consumers, and international trade unions led
the group overseeing the World Cup (FIFA—Federation Internationale de Football
Association) to adopt a Code in 1998 stating it would cease using soccer balls made with
child labor. This year, when reports indicated that children were still working in the
soccer ball industry and that adult workers were not being paid a living wage, activists
launched a new publicity and letter-writing campaign, mobilizing soccer fans,
consumers, and politicians to demand FIFA improve factory monitoring and live up to
the promises in its Code.

Implementing and supporting fair trade or labeling initiatives

Through programs developed by non-profit organizations, export goods like coffee or

cocoa can now be certified as “Fair Trade” products if producers adhere to basic labor
standards—including ILO conventions on child labor—and pay farmers fair prices so
families can meet basic living needs without having children work for wages. Groups like
TransFair USA and others help to publicize Fair Trade initiatives and educate
consumers about Fair Trade products.
 When the use of child labor in the rug-making industries of Pakistan and India gained
international publicity in the 1990s, consumer groups—building on the history of
effective “union label” initiatives—worked with manufacturers to begin phasing out the
use of child labor and licensing companies to use “no child labor” labels if production
facilities were regularly inspected by independent monitors. The resulting “RUGMARK”
label program uses licensing fees to fund monitoring programs and education and
rehabilitation for children removed from carpet jobs. Consumer groups and unions play
a role in educating the public about the label program and ensuring it maintains strict
standards for licensed companies.

Using collective bargaining strategies

The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’
Unions (ICEM) signed in 2000 and recently renewed a “global agreement” with the
multinational Freudenberg corporation, which owns chemical and rubber
manufacturing plants all over the world. Freudenberg is headquartered in
Germany/Japan, but the agreement covers all Freudenberg workers in the U.S. and 40
other countries. Among other recognitions of workers’ rights, the agreement commits
Freudenberg to a ban on “child labour according to the definitions included in ILO
Convention 138.”

Promoting global labor standards in trade agreements

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions continues to propose adding a
“social clause” covering seven core labor standards, including prohibitions on child
labor, to WTO rules governing international trade; this proposal has so far been rejected
by WTO leaders.

Garment Workers at a Union Solidarity Center Meeting

Cambodia

Trade agreements between the U.S. and Cambodia have successfully included
incentives for garment manufacturers to improve factory working conditions.
Agreements require factory owners to respect core labor standards, including
eliminating child labor and respecting workers’ rights to organize unions and
collectively bargain.

Filing suit against corporations for labor rights abuses abroad

The International Labor Rights Fund and other groups have begun pursuing legal
action against companies for alleged labor abuses in other countries. In 1996, for
example, ILRF filed a suit against Unocal for using slave labor to build pipelines in
Burma; and with the support of U.S. labor unions, ILRF recently filed a suit against
Coca-Cola for using paramilitary forces to suppress organizing and assassinate union
leaders in Colombia (these suits are still pending). If effective, this strategy could be
used in the future to hold transnational corporations accountable for child labor abuses.

Promoting access to education

Increasing children’s access to public education is a fundamental strategy for ending
child labor. An example of promoting access to education is the Bangladesh Building
and Woodworkers’ Federation and the Metal Workers’ Union that seeks to remove
children from hazardous workplaces and enroll children in education and assistance
programs. On a larger scale, the Global Campaign for Education is a coalition involving
teachers’ unions, Global March Against Child Labor, Oxfam, and Action Aid.