Do You Really Know Where Your Cloths are From?

Child labor is a global problem. When we speak of child labor is important to remember that the world below the 18-year-olds about 87 percent live in developing countries. The majority of child labor-using countries are in Asia, Africa and Latin America, developing countries, but child labor is also used in industrialized countries, even in Europe.

Work, the number of children is difficult to give exact figures. The world in different parts of the different perceptions of who is a child, and what is child labor, make it difficult tilastoimista. Child labor is not sufficient numbers, or be falsified. In addition, many developing countries do not have accurate population statistics, for example, all born girl children are not registered.

Boy selling keepsake in Thajland. Photo from Wikimedia.

In many countries, childhood is not considered an end to a particular age, but the transition to adulthood is happening gradually. In some countries, nine year-old apprentice can be viewed as an adult. Although various countries have different traditional and cultural approaches to the children’s work, not the child’s development damaging for work should never be tolerated.

Cultural differences, because we have had to look carefully at what the child labor exploitation is. In many countries, especially in rural areas, all involved in the everyday work. Although the work is heavy, does not own such a family learned the work be considered illegal. Children’s labor and child labor exploitation of that we have attempted to make a clear distinction.

Boys in cotton factory. Photo from Wikimedia.

Harmful child labor, namely child labor exploitation in use, means work, which undermines the child’s health and development. The background is always someone who will benefit from child labor. UN children’s organization UNICEF’s definition of child labor exploitation are the hallmarks of full-time job opening too young, too long working hours, undue physical, social or mental effort, unhealthy or hazardous working conditions, inadequate pay, too great a responsibility for a young age, school avoidance, the child’s self-esteem and the development of avoidance (of prostitution and slave labor), as well as social and psychological development of prevention.

ILO in April 2002, a study published in the world is around 211 million 5-14-year-old children working. This means that about one in five children worldwide, is working. About 61 percent of the world’s child workers live in Asia and 23 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. The Caribbean, the figure is eight percent and the Middle East and North Africa by six percent. For industrialized countries and transition economies in the world’s child workers are employed in about one percent in both.