Child Labour Case Studies

GP RESEARCH ACTIVITY

CHILD LABOUR

Definition of Child Labour: Percentage of children 5–14 years old involved in child labour at the moment of the survey. A child is considered to be involved in child labour under the following conditions: children 5–11 years old who, during the reference week, did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of household chores, or children 12–14 years old who, during the reference week, did at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 28 hours of household chores.

Case Studies:

India (Largest number of child labourers in the world);

Sierra Leone (“Blood Diamonds”)

Guiding Questions:

Background Information

How are the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights violated in ________?

Is anything being

Diamond trade first began in 1935 when De Beers took control of the diamond mining industry in Sierra Leone. However, Lebanese traders soon discovered the immense profits that could be made through diamond smuggling, and illicit mining and trading of diamonds soon spread throughout Sierra Leone.

After Sierra Leone gained independence from Great Britain and De Beers removed itself, illicit diamond mining in Sierra Leone flourished. An armed rebellion began which also targeted the diamond industry as profitable source. Militants and rebels committed heinous crimes against humanity in the form of murder, rape and mutilation.

The most notable crimes were the ones against Sierra Leonean children who were either orphaned in the civil war or abducted from their children, as militants forced female children into sex slavery and male children to become child soldiers. Hence, with the diamond trade being the major reason of conflict and warfare causing child labour and abuse, the term “Blood Diamonds” were coined to describe the Sierra Leonean diamond conflict.

Current measures to resolve the