Editing Child labour (section)

==Laws and initiatives==
{{Main|Child labour law}}
{{See also|Legal working age|Student work}}

Almost every country in the world has laws relating to and aimed at preventing child labour. International Labour Organization has helped set international law, which most countries have signed on and ratified. According to ILO [[Minimum Age Convention, 1973|minimum age convention (C138)]] of 1973, child labour refers to any work performed by children under the age of 12, non-light work done by children aged 12–14, and hazardous work done by children aged 15–17. Light work was defined, under this convention, as any work that does not harm a child's health and development, and that does not interfere with his or her attendance at school. This convention has been ratified by 171 countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:11300:0::NO:11300:P11300_INSTRUMENT_ID:312283|website=International Labour Organisation|access-date=3 April 2024 |title=Ratifications of C138 - Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)}}</ref>

The United Nations adopted the [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] in 1990, which was subsequently ratified by 193 countries.<ref name=untreaty>{{cite web |website=United Nations Treaty Collection |url=http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en |title=Convention on the Rights of the Child |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211151110/http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en |archive-date=11 February 2014 |access-date=21 May 2009}}</ref> Article 32 of the convention addressed child labour, as follows:<blockquote>...Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.<ref name="UN">{{cite web|title=Convention on the Rights of the Child |work=United Nations |url=http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm |access-date=2006-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003230539/http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm |archive-date=3 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

Under Article 1 of the 1990 Convention, a child is defined as "every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, a majority is attained earlier." Article 28 of this Convention requires States to, "make primary education compulsory and available free to all."<ref name="UN"/>

As of 2024, 196 countries are party to the convention; the only nation that has not ratified the treaty is the [[US ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child|United States]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&clang=_en |title=11. Convention on the Rights of the Child |access-date=3 April 2024 |website=United Nations Treaty Collection}}</ref>

In 1999, ILO helped lead the [[Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention|Worst Forms Convention 182]] (C182),<ref>{{cite web|title=C182 - Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999|publisher=International Labour Organization, United Nations|year=1999|url=http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:312327}}</ref> which has so far been signed upon and domestically ratified by 151 countries including the United States. This international law prohibits worst forms of child labour, defined as all forms of slavery and slavery-like practices, such as child trafficking, debt bondage, and forced labour, including forced recruitment of children into armed conflict. The law also prohibits the use of a child for prostitution or the production of pornography, child labour in illicit activities such as drug production and trafficking; and in hazardous work. Both the Worst Forms Convention (C182) and the Minimum Age Convention (C138) are examples of [[international labour standards]] implemented through the ILO that deal with child labour.

In addition to setting the international law, the United Nations initiated International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in 1992.<ref>{{cite web|title=International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC)|publisher=International Labour Organization, United Nations|year=2011|url=http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm}}</ref> This initiative aims to progressively eliminate child labour through strengthening national capacities to address some of the causes of child labour. Amongst the key initiative is the so-called time-bounded programme countries, where child labour is most prevalent and schooling opportunities lacking. The initiative seeks to achieve amongst other things, universal primary school availability. The IPEC has expanded to at least the following target countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, [[Child labour in Nepal|Nepal]], Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Philippines, Senegal, South Africa and Turkey.

Targeted child labour campaigns were initiated by the [[International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour]] (IPEC) in order to advocate for prevention and elimination of all forms of child labour. The global Music against Child Labour Initiative was launched in 2013 in order to involve socially excluded children in structured musical activity and education in efforts to help protect them from child labour.<ref>{{cite web|title=Music Against Child Labour Initiative|publisher= IPEC, International Labour Organization, United Nations|year=2013|url=http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/MusicInitiative/lang--en/index.htm}}</ref>

===Exceptions granted===
[[File:Amish - On the way to school by Gadjoboy-crop.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The United States has passed a law that allows Amish children older than 14 to work in traditional wood enterprises with proper supervision.]]

In 2004, the United States passed an amendment to the [[Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938]]. The amendment allows certain children aged 14–18 to work in or outside a business where machinery is used to process wood.<ref>{{cite web|title=Exemptions from Child Labour Rules in Non-Agriculture (see FLSA Section 13(c)(7))|publisher=Department of Labour, United States|year=2012 |url=http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/cl/exemptions.asp|access-date=17 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120703183202/http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/cl/exemptions.asp|archive-date=3 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The law aims to respect the religious and cultural needs of the [[Amish]] community of the United States. The Amish believe that one effective way to educate children is on the job.<ref name="Labour laws - An Amish exception"/> The new law allows Amish children the ability to work with their families, once they are past eighth grade in school.

Similarly, in 1996, member countries of the European Union, per Directive 94/33/EC,<ref name="EUR-Lex"/> agreed to a number of exceptions for young people in its child labour laws. Under these rules, children of various ages may work in cultural, artistic, sporting or advertising activities if authorised by the competent authority. Children above the age of 13 <!--  -->may perform light work for a limited number of hours per week in other economic activities as defined at the discretion of each country. Additionally, the European law exception allows children aged 14 years or over to work as part of a work/training scheme. The EU Directive clarified that these exceptions do not allow child labour where the children may experience harmful exposure to dangerous substances.<ref>{{cite web|title=Protections of young people at work|publisher=Europa|year=2004 |url=http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/employment_and_social_policy/health_hygiene_safety_at_work/c11205_en.htm}}</ref> Nonetheless, many children under the age of 13 do work, even in the most developed countries of the EU. For instance, a recent study showed over a third of Dutch twelve-year-old kids had a job, the most common being babysitting.<ref>{{cite web |language=nl |url=http://www.rtl.nl/%28/actueel/editienl/cookieless/%29/components/actueel/editienl/nieuws/2012/w07/12-jarige-werken.xml |title=Eenderde van de 12-jarigen heeft bijbaan |website=RTL News |date=14 February 2012 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20160206191734/http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/eenderde-van-de-12-jarigen-heeft-bijbaan |archive-date=6 February 2016}}</ref>

===More laws vs. more freedom===
{{Rquote|right|Very often, however, these state laws were not enforced... Federal legislation was passed in 1916 and again in 1919, but both laws were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Although the number of child workers declined dramatically during the 1920s and 1930s, it was not until the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 that federal regulation of child labor finally became a reality.|Smithsonian, on child labour in early 20th century United States<ref name=smithson>{{cite web|title=In the playtime of others - child labor in the early 20th century|publisher=Smithsonian Education|date=December 1988|url=http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/child_labor/ATZ_ChildLabor_December1988.pdf}}</ref>}}
Scholars disagree on the best legal course forward to address child labour. Some suggest the need for laws that place a blanket ban on any work by children less than 18 years old. Others suggest the current international laws are enough, and the need for more engaging approach to achieve the ultimate goals.<ref name=sosecon>{{cite news|title=Sickness or symptom? |newspaper=The Economist|date=5 February 2004|url=http://www.economist.com/node/2405051 |access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref>

Some scholars{{who|date=January 2016}} suggest any labour by children aged 18 years or less is wrong since this encourages illiteracy, inhumane work and lower investment in human capital. These activists claim that child labour also leads to poor labour standards for adults, depresses the wages of adults in developing countries as well as the developed countries, and dooms the third world economies to low-skill jobs only capable of producing poor quality cheap exports. More children that work in poor countries, the fewer and worse-paid are the jobs for adults in these countries. In other words, there are moral and economic reasons that justify a blanket ban on labour from children aged 18 years or less, everywhere in the world.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Is Child Labour Inefficient?|author=Jean-Marie Baland and James A. Robinson|s2cid=38990374|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume= 108|number= 4|date= August 2000|pages=663–679|jstor=10.1086/316097|doi=10.1086/316097}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CHILD WAGES IN THE COTTON MILLS: OUR MODERN FEUDALISM (Originally published: Child labour bulletin, volume 2, number 1 (May 1913))|author=A. J. McKELWAY|year=1913|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/mckelway/mckelway.html}}</ref>

[[File:Child labor Bangladesh.jpg|thumb|[[Child labour in Bangladesh]]]]

Other scholars{{who|date=January 2016}} suggest that these arguments are flawed and ignore history, and that more laws will do more harm than good. According to them, child labour is merely the symptom of poverty. If laws ban all lawful work that enables the poor to survive, informal economy, illicit operations and underground businesses will thrive. These will increase abuse of the children. In poor countries with very high incidence rates of child labour&nbsp;– such as Ethiopia, Chad, Niger and Nepal&nbsp;– schools are not available, and the few schools that exist offer poor quality education or are unaffordable. The alternatives for children who currently work, claim these studies, are worse: grinding subsistence farming, militia or prostitution. Child labour is not a choice, it is a necessity, the only option for survival. It is currently the least undesirable of a set of very bad choices.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Policy Analysis of Child Labour: A Comparative Study|author1=Christiaan Grootaert |author2=Harry Anthony Patrinos |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=1999|pages=8–54|isbn=978-0312221225}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Economics of Consumer Actions against Products with Child Labour Content|last=Edmonds|first=Eric|date=May 2007|url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~eedmonds/clwa.pdf|access-date=17 July 2012|archive-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809040517/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~eedmonds/clwa.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Traidcraft Exchange and Homeworkers Worldwide argue that attempts to eliminate child labour without addressing the level of adult earnings may lead to children being engaged in labour in "less visible and more hazardous occupations".<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Traidcraft Exchange and Homeworkers Worldwide |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60a24248d1bdf007a7d6d14f/t/60a7ee9020a5810a3649d66a/1621618333902/Child+Labour+Toolkit.pdf |title=Preventing Child Labour in Home-based Crafts Production - A Practical Toolkit for Businesses |access-date=3 April 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Child labour Nepal.jpg|thumb|[[Nepal]]i girls working in brick factory]]
These scholars suggest, from their studies of economic and social data, that early 20th-century child labour in Europe and the United States ended in large part as a result of the economic development of the formal regulated economy, technology development and general prosperity. Child labour laws and ILO conventions came later. Edmonds suggests, even in contemporary times, the incidence of child labour in Vietnam has rapidly reduced following economic reforms and GDP growth. These scholars suggest economic engagement, emphasis on opening quality schools rather than more laws and expanding economically relevant skill development opportunities in the third world. International legal actions, such as trade sanctions increase child labour.<ref name=sosecon/><ref>{{cite journal|title=Does Child Labour Decline with Improving Economic Status?|last=Edmonds|first=Eric|journal=Journal of Human Resources| volume=40|number= 1|date=Winter 2005|pages=77–99|doi=10.3368/jhr.XL.1.77|s2cid=13971652|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w10134.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The economics of child labour: A framework for measurement|last=Anker|first=Richard|journal=International Labour Review|volume=139|issue=3|pages=257–280|date=September 2000|doi=10.1111/j.1564-913X.2000.tb00204.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Will trade sanctions reduce child labour?: The role of credit markets|author1=Saqib Jafareya |author2=Sajal Lahiri |journal=Journal of Development Economics|volume=68|issue=1|date=June 2002|pages=137–156|doi=10.1016/S0304-3878(02)00009-3}}</ref>

''[[The Incredible Bread Machine]]'', a book published by "World Research, Inc." in 1974, stated:

{{blockquote|Child labour was a particular target of early reformers. William Cooke Tatlor wrote at the time about these reformers who, witnessing children at work in the factories, thought to themselves: 'How much more delightful would have been the gambol of the free limbs on the hillside; the sight of the green mead with its spangles of buttercups and daisies; the song of the bird and the humming bee...'
But for many of these children the factory system meant quite literally the only chance for survival. Today we overlook the fact that death from starvation and exposure was a common fate before the Industrial Revolution, for the pre-capitalist economy was barely able to support the population. Yes, children were working. Formerly they would have starved. It was only as goods were produced in greater abundance at a lower cost that men could support their families without sending their children to work. It was not the reformer or the politician that ended the grim necessity for child labour; it was capitalism.}}