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 Youth Zone - Development Topics - Child Labour
Child Labour
Harmful versus non-harmful child labour
Why do children work?
How does girls' work differ from boys'?
How is Canada helping these children?
What you can do
The Bauze Community Youth
Centre in Lusaka, Zambia, t
eaches girls about their rights
by offering special services
and activities such as
this t-shirt campaign to protect
child domestic workers from
physical and emotional abuse.
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On the bustling streets of Senegal's capital city, Dakar, 10-year-old Aida sells fruit to passers-by. She uses the money to help pay her fees at school, which she attends most mornings.
Meanwhile, in a dimly lit shack in northern Pakistan, 9-year-old Harun sits for 10 hours every day. His small fingers thread minuscule strands of wool to create elaborately patterned carpets. He will continue to do this for the rest of his childhood to help pay off his impoverished family's loan. By the time he's an adult, his eyesight will be poor and he will have few other work options because he never attended school.
Both of these children are child labourers, but in very different situations.
 Harmful versus non-harmful child labour
Worldwide, more than 130 million children work to support themselves and their families. However, it is important to distinguish between different kinds of child labour.
Some child labour is harmful to children's development, such as being exposed to dangerous chemicals when spraying pesticides, continuously lifting heavy loads that can curve a child's spine, or working in unsafe conditions that offer no chance for education, as in the case of young Harun. The worst forms of child labour include selling sex as a prostitute; fighting as a child soldier; and being sold, or "trafficked," as a slave worker. Two important documents identify the worst forms of labour for children: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Labour Organization's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention.
But there is also non-harmful child labour, which is necessary for some children, such as Aida. Non-harmful child labour is often part-time and does not stop children from having access to school. It can be beneficial by giving them an income, a sense of accomplishment, and useful social and work-related skills that will be of use to them in their future lives.
Rather than trying to stop all child labour, it is important to ensure that children who work gain the knowledge, tools, and opportunities they need to achieve their full potential. You may have heard of children working in "sweatshops"—factories in which working conditions are poor and work hours are long—sewing GAP clothing or stitching Nike shoes. You may even have tried to protect these children by refusing to buy, or boycotting, such brand names. Yet fewer than 5 percent of child workers manufacture goods for export, and this is generally not the most harmful type of work. Research over the last decade shows that blanket bans on child labour and international campaigns to boycott certain products have resulted in many children ending up in more dangerous work situations.
Why do children work?
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Education and Child Labour
We assume that children who work are unable to attend school, but this is often not so: children throughout much of the world do both. In fact, many schoolchildren in poor countries spend more time at work than in school. Often they must work in order to pay for their school supplies, transportation, and tuition. Sometimes older children are asked to stay home and work so that the younger children can also have a chance to attend school.
What is important is how work and school are balanced so that children benefit from both. We don't always recognize that children learn valuable skills from work of the right kind. We also assume that all schooling is good. Some schools do not provide a useful learning environment, and children face increased risk of harm and exploitation. This is especially true for working children, who are more likely to be physically abused, humiliated, or not helped to learn in school. Many drop out of school as a result. In some cases, schools are not very good, and it is difficult for children and adults to see the advantage of staying in school instead of contributing to the family income.
What is needed are child-friendly schools that serve the best interests of all children. This means flexible school schedules to accommodate working children, holding classes close to where the children work, and making sure that poor rural and urban children have access to safe, good-quality education that is relevant to their lives.
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Children who live in poverty often work to support themselves or help their families. In developing countries, the vast majority of child labourers work for their parents or relatives, often in agriculture or running family businesses. As the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS grows, more and more children work to replace family members.
In cultures that discriminate against girls or women, families and societies may not invest as much in girls' education, and girls may be encouraged to go to work at a young age. Other children work after dropping out of school—often because schools fail to meet their needs.
How does girls' work differ from boys'?
Cultural expectations mean that girls tend to have fewer options than boys. The work of girls is generally valued less than that of boys, it is more likely to be unpaid, and it is often out of sight in the household, such as caring for other family members and infants. Families stricken by HIV/AIDS often rely on children, usually girls, to do the work of adults. This means that girls often miss out on opportunities to learn skills to generate income.
The majority of girls employed outside the home work in other people's homes as domestic servants—maids or nannies—where they face a higher risk of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse in already exploitative working conditions. Girls who can attend school often find the schools unsafe.
Policies and programs that address child labour need to take into account the different experiences and issues facing girls and boys who work. For example, non-formal education programs for working children are often held at night, when girls cannot attend because it is unsafe for them to go outside. Programs that encourage children to participate in decision-making about their work need to ensure that both girls and boys are given the chance to participate.
How is Canada helping these children?
Non-harmful child labour
enables children like this
young boy in Jaipur, India,
to work during the day and attend
school after work.
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The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) protects children's rights through its Action Plan on Child Protection. Because of the number of children who work around the world and the effects that work can have on children's development, helping child labourers is one of CIDA's priorities.
This rights-based approach is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most ratified UN Convention in the history of the world. It stresses that children are actors in their own development and are contributors to their families and societies. Article 12 of the Convention outlines children's rights to participate in decisions that affect them, in ways that are right for their age, and to have their views taken seriously.
CIDA realizes that some children must work. Experience has shown that bans on child labour don't always work, and the children pushed out of labour often end up in more dangerous jobs, such as the commercial sex trade. Instead, CIDA helps working children to lead lives free from exploitation, abuse, neglect, and discrimination. This means making sure their working conditions are safe and healthy. It also means providing them with access to good-quality basic education.
High in the Andes mountains of South America, for example, Bolivian boys as young as 10 crush rocks at mines. By the time they are 12, they shoulder pickaxes and descend into the dark underground, where their lungs darken prematurely from rock dust. In the town of Potosi, CIDA is helping child miners find less-harmful work and get an education.
In the West African country of Côte d'Ivoire, where much of the world's cocoa is produced, child labourers commonly work on the plantations. CIDA is helping raise awareness among farmers and cocoa cooperatives of the need to protect children from pesticide exposure, carrying heavy loads, and using dangerous tools.
In the Southeast Asian country of Thailand, girls as young as 12 are sold into the sex trade from poor families in the north. Most have no formal education. CIDA is working with UNICEF to stop these girls from being trafficked into prostitution and to provide them with education.
As long as children have to work, CIDA will work with them to improve their chances for a safer and happier future. At the same time, CIDA continues to reduce poverty and the conditions that force children to work.
What you can do
- Get informed. Learn more about child labour, and share what you learn with your friends, family, and teachers. Visit the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children Canada, and the International Labour Organization's Program on the Elimination of Child Labour.
- Get connected. Join and support non-governmental organizations working directly with children to help stop the worst forms of child labour, such as Global March Against Child Labour, Street Kids International (SKI), and Eldis Working Children and Young People Guide. You can also join a chat forum on child labour.
- Make a difference. Join Anti-Slavery's Campaign Network. Urge local, national, and international news media to raise awareness about child labour. And be an informed consumer and traveller.
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