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Children work for a variety of reasons ranging from economic necessity to cultural and social norms. In certain circumstances, work experience may be beneficial to children or their families, as the work and income can be a positive experience. However, child labor becomes a cause for concern when the labor becomes exploitative, hazardous, or interferes with the right of a child to an education. Additionally, the age of the child plays a significant role in the acceptability of work performed.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has long been concerned with child labor. As far back as 1921, it adopted Convention 10 which prohibits the employment of children under 14 in any agricultural business. The ILO then adopted various conventions covering specific sectors, but recognized the need to place a blanket restriction on all forms of child labor below a certain age.
As a result, in 1973, ILO Convention 138 was adopted specifying that the minimum age for any employment “shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years.”1 Finally, in 1999, the ILO adopted Convention 182, now considered one of its five key conventions, prohibiting the worst forms of child labor for all children under the age of 18. These “worst forms” include slavery, child prostitution, and child pornography, as well as any other work that is likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children.
Despite the ILO’s efforts, approximately 218 million children are engaged in child labor around the world, of which 126 million are believed to be working under hazardous conditions.2 Many children work in manufacturing, as domestic help, or in services; however, the vast majority of child laborers, 70 percent, work in the agricultural sector.3
| Cotton Picking in Egypt
Over one million children are involved in Egypt’s cotton industry; its major cash crop. Their primary job is controlling pests that can ruin cotton plants by manually inspecting and treating the leaves of the cotton plants. Generally, the work is done during the summer so it does not interfere with schooling; however, it is grueling and often runs eleven hours per day, every day of the week. Beatings by foremen, extreme heat, and exposure to dangerous pesticides are common as well.4 In fact, two of the five pesticides regularly used are classified as “highly hazardous.”5 The result of these working conditions on young children has been significant. Children suffer high rates of injuries and risk being beaten for their work performance. In fact, Human Rights Watch interviewed a child in who commented on his two foremen, saying, “One of them I hate; the other one I like. The one I hate used to beat and kick me whenever I missed a leaf. The other one beats and kicks me lightly.”6 The exposure to pesticides can cause acute effects such as dizziness and vomiting as well as disrupting the nervous and endocrine systems of children.7 The extreme heat of the Egyptian summer also endangers these children, as they often are provided minimal access to water and toilets. Further exacerbating an already untenable situation is the meager pay the children receive for this excruciating work which averages just US$0.81 per day. Various organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, are working both to raise awareness of this situation and to convince the Egyptian government to meet its obligations under ILO Convention 138 that prohibits Egypt from allowing children below the age of 14 from working. |
The Elimination of Child Labor in Pakistan’s Soccer Ball Industry By the mid-1990s, roughly 75 percent of the soccer balls produced in the world were made in the The International Labor Organization (ILO) produced a report in 1996 detailing the working conditions in the As a result of the ILO’s report and the publicity that came with world-wide revelation of the conditions in the industry, including introduction in the U.S. Senate by Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat – Iowa) of an amendment aimed at Pakistan that would have prohibited U.S. imports of goods made by child labor, an agreement was reached between the ILO and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce on February 14, 1997. The goal of the agreement was the elimination of all child labor (defined as children under the age of 14 in this case) in the soccer ball industry in The agreement created a program designed to replace work with education for the children who were stitching soccer balls. By 2004, the ILO reported that over 10,000 children had received an education as a result of the agreement and an additional 5,000 had received health care coverage.10 The most critical development of this agreement was the enabling of families to place their children in schools rather than the soccer ball industry. In part, this resulted from a change in social standards in the |
3 “Backgrounder: Child Labor in Agriculture.”
4 “Underage and Unprotected: Child Labor in Egypt’s Cotton Fields”
5 “Backgrounder: Child Labor in Agriculture”
7 “Underage and Unprotected: Child Labor in Egypt’s Cotton Fields”
8 “From Stitching to School: Combating Child Labour in the Soccer Ball Industry in Pakistan.”
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