Introduction
Throughout the world, especially in the less-developed countries, an immeasurable amount of children have been involved in what has been called child labour, and its prevalence has now sparked much worry. Child labour can be defined as any work that is harmful to a child’s health or interrupt a child’s education (International Labour Organisation, 2012). According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there were approximately 153 million child labourers aged 5-14 worldwide in 2008 and this number has increased to 250 million nowadays. Also, ILO investigated that 60 percent of the child labour was engaged in agricultural work such as farming, dairy and fisheries. The rest is in service industries and manufacturing, 25% and 15% respectively (Diallo, et al., 2010). Child labour is difficult to deal with because of the number of sections and categorization of child labour. It is not only because of poverty but also the surrounding societal and cultural causes. This report will examine the effects and implications of child labour, identify the causes, and propose some feasible solutions.
Impacts
Child labour is mentally, physically, socially dangerous and harmful to children, and also brings disadvantages to the development of economies across the world, especially in impoverished countries. Obviously and essentially, working in sweatshops and other inhumane conditions may have a negative impact on the health issues, including both mind and body, of the children. Employers do not always necessarily care whether the situation is too dangerous for minors to work and may also force them to finish their work without any respite. This leads the children to suffer injuries while working, or even to be hit cruelly by inhumane employers if the former do not complete the job satisfactorily as what the latter have required. According to a survey from ILO, there are about average 22,000 children who lose their young lives in the
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