Child Labour
In Amos 2v6 God promises that He will not turn back His wrath on those that sell the “needy for a pair of sandals…”
But right now there are kids as young as 5 working like slaves. Depending on where you live, while your brothers and sisters might be in school, these kids have been denied the right to be kids…
Between 158 million and 218 million children aged 5 to 14 are engaged in child labour – that’s at least one in six children in our world.
…At least 126 million of these kids are involved in hazardous work.
Whether in textile, agricultural or industrial industries… whether through a lack of education, forced military enlistment or out of poverty… children are being used as a cheap alternative for production.
They are denied the basic rights of education, workers protection, medical care, safe workplace standards and a fair wage. Kids often find themselves with no other option than to work and support their families. Others are kidnapped from their homes, trafficked by gangs and sold as modern day slaves to meet the global demand for cheap labour. These kids frequently use drugs and alcohol to help them cope with their servitude.
UNICEF reports that 12% of Indian children are in the child labour force… That’s 135 million children... More than double the entire population of the UK. In some cases an Indian child's income has accounted for up to 37% of total household income.
…In Bangladesh 13% of all children aged 5 to 14 work… That’s 19 million kids… More than the entire population of Chile…
…45% of all children in Cambodia are involved in child labour.
… And in Chad, 53%
But the picture worsens… Some studies show that the more severely affected by HIV/AIDS a child is, the more severe the labour in which they are likely to be involved. In Zambia, for example, the pandemic has added up to 30% more workers to the child labour force.
So who will stand up for these kids?
Where are the people... the groups... the organisations with creative ideas to rescue and protect our world’s most vulnerable?
For more info, visit:
UNICEF (2011) ‘The State of the World’s Children 2011’
International Labour Organization (ILO) (2006) ‘The End of Child Labour, Within Reach’
World Vision (2007) ‘Letting the Future in; World Vision and Child Labour in India’
ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (2006) ‘Global Child Labour Trends 2000’
UNICEF, ‘Child Labour’
