Child Labor Problem

Taking these into account, an indirect utility function of a household under child schooling alone, schooling and work, and work alone decisions can be constructed. An indirect utility function represents the maximum utility a household receives, conditioned on the choices it makes. To construct one, first consider that the household maximizes equation (1), subject to equations (4) and (6) by allocating child time for schooling, work, or both. Solving this problem would lead to a vector of optimal choices that are functions of prices, wages, household characteristics, income, credit constraints, and other factors, ………….. (7) where Ψ constitutes all community-level observed and unobserved characteristics that likely affect the parents’ decision

The first attempt to define child labor in an international convention was made by the International Labor Organization (ILO) at its founding congress in 1919 (Grimsrud, 2001). This convention settled on 14 years as the minimum age for public and private industrial undertakings while an adoption of Convention 138 took place in 1973 leading to a gradual development of the concept. This included more and more industries, types of work and increasing the minimum age. This was done to determine which activities children should not be allowed to undertake in the labour market. A more comprehensive approach was taken through the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1979, in which the definition of child labour was based on the effect that the work may have on the child, regardless whether this work could be characterized as labour market work. This child’s rights principle was adopted by the ILO in 1999 through Convention 138 (C 138), the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child, and ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, form the basis for the international definition of child labour (ILO, 1998). The conditions set forth in the three conventions are of a qualitative nature. The work or activities undertaken by a child, defined as a person under the age of 18, should not be hazardous or harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental,

As such, child labour deprives children of their childhood, compromises their dignity and endangers their capabilities. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), observes that child labour is work that is likely to be hazardous, or interfere with the child’s education; or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, spiritual or mental development(CRC 1989, Art. 32) (Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, Article 32)