Topic Introduction
Millions of children worldwide are thrown into the traps of forced labour, with their childhood, education, health and most importantly their basic rights robbed off them. Most of these children work under extremely harsh conditions and take on life-threatening and dangerous jobs and are also underpaid and malnourished. However on the other spectrum, children are also forced into other extreme, morally unjustified jobs such as slavery , soldiering, prostitution, drug-trafficking. Many factors are said to be the driving force behind this issue which includes social norms, emergencies, migration and most prominently poverty. Even though there has been a decline in child labour over these years, progress has been made too slow and on top of that this issue is usually hidden from public’s eye as limited media attention is directed to it. Also with this issue being prevalent in many countries especially developing countries it calls for us as a council to find out and discuss on methods to curb this issue that has plagued this world for decades and to also determine if this issue is inevitable or preventable.
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As Child Labour has been an increasing trend according to the UN, and with 317 million children worldwide, this raises the eyes of many. A number of factors needs to be considered when we look at Child labour, which are: 1) Hazardous Work, 2) Light Work, 3) Basic Minimum Rights, 4) Level of Law enforcement within a country, when we are talking about the solutions to this major issue. This stands as a complicated issue as the root causes (not exhaustive) are associated with poverty, social male dominance, and gender specific work. Therefore, as there is a violation of human rights where children are forced to work against their own will, this calls for our council to come together to solve this
Child Labor in the Early 1900's There was a time in America when it was common for children to be working intense amounts in the factories of the labor industry. By 1904, 50,000 workers in the South were under the age of 16 with 20,000 under the age of 12. Having children working in the industry was dangerous and unreasonable and resulted in countless accidents in the workspace. In the early 1900's, children who worked in the labor industry were exploited as they were forced to work long hours, were deprived of an education, and ultimately put their lives at risk until The National Child Labor Committee began advocating for reform.
During the Industrial Revolution in the United States, labor laws regarding safety and the age of children who could work were non-existent. Unlike today, in a time where strict laws regarding the use of child labor are regarded and respected, during the times of early Industrialism, children worked alongside their parents in an effort to help their families economically. With the turn of the twentieth century came new ideas of the Progressive Era, which forever changed the laws surrounding the use of children in factories and other labor-intensive occupations. However, the struggle behind the efforts to change child labor laws was a long one. With events such as the Newsboy Strike in New York in 1899 to the creation of the Fair Labor Standards
This political cartoon represents How corrupt child labor was in The Progressive Era. On the left there is two men, who are enjoying them self, by being pushed in a cart by children. On the right there is three children ,who have to push this big cart, with two men on it. There is also an old lady who is helping the children push this cart. The old lady represents, that child labor companies push children into work from a young age till the day they die.
In the 1920s, there were about 1 million children ages 10 to 15 working. The children were working on farms, in factories, served as messengers, and they did just about everything. They were working long hours throughout the day and only getting paid minimum wage. Factories would choose children instead of adults and they would pay the children less money. The children would go to work instead of getting an education and going to school.
The industrial revolution was a time of immense progress. It marked an era of technological advancements and a changing society, yet also a period smeared with unfair and unsafe working conditions. The history is filled with stories of people suffering, being injured, and even dying, all in the process of creating goods for the changing consumer culture. Thousands looked past the suffering, condoled themselves with the goods they purchased at economical prices all at the expense of the working class, a class that had no other choice than to work in the dark, dangerous factories to feed their family. While the consumer culture in this time could look past the anguish of those in the working class, progressives could not.
During the Progressive time, the main goal was to expand the government to a social setting instead of a political environment. African Americans were considered inferior to the white culture. Child labor was seen in all factories, they would work in the cruelest conditions for little to no pay. During this time, it was Congress’ decision whether or not child labor was legal or not. In present day, African American have a lot more freedom than written in history.
“Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time” (Grace Abbott). The issue of child labor has been around for centuries. Its standing in our world has been irrevocably stained in our history and unfortunately, our present. Many great minds have assessed this horrific issue and its effect on our homes, societies, and ultimately, our world.
We all have different views of the world that we live in, and we all have our stories to tell. But for the millions of kids that are being captured and sold to factories around the world, telling a story about their life would be an impossible thing to do. Unexpectedly, most cases when children are found working in some sort of unimaginable field, they are working to help their family out of poverty. With the income of only $15 a month, they suffered severed beatings forming unrepairable injuries and neglect leading to physical and emotional damage. Child labor happens for many reasons, being stolen, turned into a slave and poverty are the main reasons.
The issue of child labor has long been a subject of discussion that -------. In her cogent essay, “Live Free and Starve,” directed at liberals and those in support of a bill passed by the U.S. congress that bans the import of goods from countries that have child labor, Chitra Divakaruni reasons on the subject of child labor in developing countries. In a persuasive tone, Divakaruni contends that the aforementioned bill is misguided in its intent. She argues that while the intentions behind the bill are good-willed, the bill would not be effective in its goal of helping the children. Divakaruni offers a unique perspective on child labor in foreign countries to increase awareness on how there is more to the situation of child labor than meets the eye.
In the late 1800s, the Industrial Revolution was brought to the United States from Great Britain. The Industrial Revolution was a time period which brought people from the rural areas to the city. Most manufacturing took place in people’s homes using home-made tools, and basic machines. Henceforth, innovation was needed to speed the process of making clothes, enhancing the transportation system, better mass production of iron and more.
Essayist, Florence Kelley, once wrote, “For the sake of the children, for the Republic in which these children will vote after we are dead, and for the sake of our cause, we should enlist the workingmen voters, with us, in this task of freeing the children from toil!” (Kelley 92-96). This quote can be traced back to her account, in which she presents before the National American Suffrage Association in Philadelphia in 1905. In it, she vividly depicts the horrors of child labor, providing countless reports, varying child labor laws throughout the states and ultimately, a solution to the dilemma. In author Florence Kelley’s essay … , she employs logos and rhetorical questions, in order to fortify her stance on child labor.
It is the world’s fastest growing global crime that people are being bought, sold and smuggled for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, bonded labour and even organ sacrifice ending up with death. The most tragic fact is 26% of the victims that are sucked into trafficking are children. In this violation of human rights’ grave, where persons have a price tag, anyone can be a victim. Human trafficking doesn’t discriminate on age, gender, race or religion. It is happening to humans, just like
Child labor was a great problem in the Industrial Revolution. Factory owners usually hired women and children rather than men. They said that men expected higher wages, and they suspected that they were more likely to rebel against the company. Women and children were forced to work from six in the morning to seven at night, and this was when they were not so busy. They were forced to arrive on time and they couldn’t fall behind with their work because if they did they were whipped and punished.
Child labor. A topic widely frowned upon, may be beneficial when executed properly. Employing children can possibly provide stability and safety to a child, and opportunities for their communities to advance. In its simplest form, child labor can be beneficial to communities and families when laws and rights are respected. Keeping children off of the streets is a benefit having to do with child labor.
But not all work done by children should be accepted as child labor. In other words, if a work doesn’t harm child’s health or personal development (educational issues), it is generally accepted as something positive and useful. Such activities develop children’s skills, provide experience and formulate them to be part of society. The term “Child Labor” is when children do work that damages their health or hamper mental or physical