Child Labor

Introduction

Child labor refers to the practice of engaging children in economic activities, either on part-time or full-time basis. The practice is considered morally and ethically wrong as it robs children off their childhood and is detrimental to their psychological and physical development. Poverty is the leading cause of child labor; however other factors like lack of fine schooling system, illiteracy, informal economical growth, recession, unstable economy are contributing factors in majority of third world countries like India and Bangladesh. To see children working is not always bad. Work might be encouraged for adolescents as a trainee. However there exists a fine line between what is done for development of a child and what is pure exploitation of his/her skills for one sole purpose- profit. The issue of child labor is in India and Bangladesh specifically and the factors underpinning the issue are of significance in a global context.

Discussion

It is widely known that India, Bangladesh and Philippines are the countries leading world when it comes to child labor (Bangladesh, 2011). The number of products made by children in these countries is constantly increasing. From the shirts made in garment industry to the shoes made for elite class, everything involves children working in one or the other phase of manufacturing. In these countries child labor is an obvious and pretty visible part of everyday life. Especially in Bangladesh and India, children are found serving at roadside tea-stalls; at every traffic signal young children are found strolling between rushing cars selling goods to travelers while some offer to clean their vehicles in an effort to collect money (Furlong, 2013). Other children work in areas which are hidden from the view, for example children working in domestic settings as maid or drivers. This makes regulation and control more difficult since active observation of children cannot be done in such hidden areas.

Child Labor in Bangladesh

Child labor has always been common in Bangladesh. In 2011 rural and urban areas of country had 10 percent of children (aged 5-14) engaged in child labor. 7 percent of children (7-14) were engaged in both child labor and education (U.S. Department of State, 2011). Even though Bangladesh has been constantly criticized about child labor, the efforts made to eliminate the issue are minimal and need strong implementation and an enforcement plan when it comes to child labor policies. In its efforts to counteract the issue Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act 2012 was passed, which made labor trafficking a capital offense. Moreover the “Child Labor Monitoring Information System” program was initiated which is a well developed and wholly funded system to manage the data and information related to child labor and to begin implementation of the “dollar nine million” child labor initiative.

From the mid 1990s, there has been a huge decrease in child labor in the garment industry of Bangladesh because of the Harkin Bill (Child Labor Deterrence Act of 1999)(Harkin,2006). The act banned imports of products to the USA, in which child labor is ...