Child Labor - Unlawful Employment of Children

FREE Sample Criminal Records Search!

Want a FREE Sample Search From Our Top Rated Site?

First Name: *		Last Name: *
Middle Name:		City:
Country:		State: *
* Required fields

* We will NEVER rent, trade or release your information to any third party for any reason - ever.

What is child labor? Our children are our future. In some cases, this is taken a bit to literally and children are put to work at an age where it is not allowed. Read about the history of child labor and how this exploitation of children is now dealt with.

Child labor is defined as the employment of children under the prescribed age by the law or by custom. Countries and international organizations treat child labor as a form of exploitation of children.

The United Nations declares child labor as exploitative because it exposes a child to certain hazards, interferes with the child’s education, and may harm the physical, mental, social, emotional, and psychological development of the child.

Nevertheless, there is no universally-accepted definition for child labor which leads to confusion about the matter in many cases in addition to the fact that not all work can be and is bad for children. Household chores and school homework, for example, are not treated as child labor.

History seems to have a more laid back attitude regarding child labor and any concern about the perils of child labor only came to the forefront with the recognition of laborer’s and children’s rights.

During the industrial revolution, child labor was very rampant in the west. Water-powered textile factories in England and Scotland, for one, used child labor for two-thirds of its labor force. In fact, child labor was so common that Karl Marx even argued that the industrial revolution made life especially hard for children.

Child labor can be found in almost any industry from factories to agriculture to mining and quarrying. Helping with the family business or a child operating his own business such as selling food can also be considered child labor. Child labor also includes children who work as guides for tourists.

Nevertheless, child labor is most rampant in the informal sector where they work as street vendors, agricultural laborers, and or as workers in hidden houses far from the officials and inspectors of the labor sector.

Among the most notorious forms of child labor is using children as military child soldiers and as sex slaves or prostitutes. Less controversial forms of child labor that are often accepted by the public and can be legal are child acting and singing.

Child Labor in Developing Countries

Child labor is most prevalent in poor and developing countries. Oftentimes, children are forced to work to provide for their poor families who often rely on the children’s earnings as the sole income of the family.

Aside from those working in the domestic scene, the UNICEF estimates 218 million children to be engaged in child labor where 126 million are believed to be working in hazardous environments such as mine sites or chemical factories and industries.

A great majority of child laborers also work in agricultural plantations. Child labor in domestic areas is also very common, but the fact is often overlooked especially since the child workers are not openly seen and pushed to the background.

Asia and Pacific regions have the largest numbers of children engaged in child labor. In sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in every 3 child is engaged in some form of child labor.

Child labor is also linked with trafficking of children since many children who are trafficked are used for child labor. Unlike trafficking however, child labor is often done voluntarily and in many cases the child is not separated from his family.