Essay Example about Child Labor

Child labor is the use of children to make products in high demand. This type of work focuses more on the products that could be earned versus the health and education of the children. Child labor increased in the Industrial revolution. It was an era in which it formed society. As products started to gain demand there was a lack of people to work in the mills so they turned to children. Children worked hard hours in long, harsh conditions. This problem still exists today in many countries around the world. In Cambodia and Bangladesh, child labor proceeds to impact the workforce due to how many child labor laws there are, how they are enforced, and what the financial status a family is in.

Bangladesh has made moderate advancements to stopping child labor. For example, they abolished child labor in 2006 with the Child Labor Action Plan. Since then there have been more and more policies put into play to stop child labor in Bangladesh. For example, the “Seventh Five Year Plan” which eliminates the worst forms of child labor. This includes debt bondage, serfdom, prostitution, and producing/trafficking drugs which is common in this area. This policy also provides rehabilitation, access to education, and also supports the child’s family. Bangladesh has also released the “National Plan of Action in the Elimination of Child Labor”. This policy promotes the finding of ways to stop and prevent child labor by raising awareness, teaching law enforcement how to handle these types of situations, giving all families access to educational and medical services. From the policies put into more than 135,000 children have been put out of work and into school. It is important to back up policies by enforcing them to the public.

Law enforcement is key when it comes to a problem this size. There are three agencies that help stop child labor. They include the Bangladesh police, Bangladesh labor court, and DIFE (Department of Inspection of Factories and Establishments) each having different jobs. The government of Bangladesh has committed itself to putting an end to child labor. For example, there has been an increase in the amount of funding given to the Labor Inspectorate organization which allows the organization to train and educate more people on this problem. The DIFE also conducts regular inspections on workplaces to make sure that the area is in compliance with child labor laws. Although there is a lack of unexpected inspections which can allow employers to hide any evidence the inspections have led to a total of 3,531 child labor violations being found. While there are many laws and policies against child labor it is unachievable to reach a 100% child-labor-free country because of how much child labor impacts the Bangladeshi workforce is.

A family’s financial status is a big decider on whether or not their child will work. Poverty is the main cause for sending a child to work. Without the salary of the child, a family is very likely to not be able to pay for essential things. According to the ILO, more than half of families in Bangladesh use their children’s salaries to pay 40% of their monthly expenses in Bangladesh. So many children have no other choice but to start working. Another reason why children worked was the lack of access to education. Many families do not have enough to pay for tuition to send their children to school. There is a lack of teachers in the educational system in Bangladesh. The average number of students per teacher in Bangladesh is about 45 students per teacher while in other countries it is like the United States it is only 15. Since there aren’t enough teachers teaching some students to have no other choice other than to drop out and work full time. There is a law, Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy, that limits the number of hours a child can work and where but illegal employers go way above that. Some children work up to 64 hours per week most of them being overnight shifts. Section 41 of the Labour Act of 2006 states that the maximum number of hours an adolescent from ages 15-18 can work is just 48 but unfortunately this law is often overlooked. The entire country’s economic status has shaped how kids work. Cambodia is another country that struggles with child labor.

Cambodia has policies making child labor illegal but people still chose to ignore them. Some of the policies that Cambodia has against child labor are as follows: National Plans of Action on Combating the Wost Forst of labor, National policies on the Elimination of Chil Labor in the Fisheries and Agricultural Sectors, and National Child Protection Policy. In the year 2012 Cambodia abolished the worst which includes children processing sugarcane, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco, this is one of the biggest ways that Cambodia earns its money. These laws have increased public awareness and monitoring of child labor across the world. There are also committees that have helped with stopping the problem of child labor. One example of this would be the Anti-Human Trafficking in Persons Committee. NGO focuses on child protection, justice, and recovery of any trama. Teaching people about laws and enforcing them has allowed more people to see what is wrong with child labor.

Cambodia is one of the countries that have made minimal advancements to eliminate child labor. There are organizations like MOLVT, NCCL, AHTJP, CRG, and the Ministry of Tourism that try to help but the lack of enforcement had taken a toll on stopping this problem. According to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, there has been a total of 47 fewer child labor inspectors from 2019 to the year 2020. There has also been a very dramatic decrease in the number of labor inspections conducted. This number has gone from 7,123 to 1,309 which shows that the government has been lacking in its responsibilities to the children in the country. Evidently, the has also been an increase in child labor in rural areas according to locals from Raghurajpur. Although there have been more unexpected inspections conducted there have been only been 4 penalties imposed because of child labor suspicion. This country has made some advancements done there is still a long way to go before child labor is eliminated. Some families do not have any other options other than sending their children to work. 

Cambodia is a less developed country and continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world. It has had a growth in its economy over the years but still has about 18% of its population under the poverty line this is 2.8 million people. Many families live paycheck to paycheck and some aren’t able to pay for their necessities. About 45% of children are working in Cambodia and many children are unaccounted for. They are distributed in the workforces of agriculture(76.8%), industry(5.5%), and services(17.8%). This problem is a generational problem as it continues down the generations. Even after many people are working in the family about 87% of the families are not able to leave this toxic cycle. Although Bangladesh and Cambodia are very different countries they both struggle with the same problem.

Both of the countries struggle with stopping child labor. Compared to other countries in South Asia they are some of the poorest. Families in both countries most of the time do not have enough money to pay for their needs so they must send children to work. Evidently, they also have the lowest wages in countries with child labor problems. In neither of the countries, can one make more than .34 U.S. cents per hour. In both Cambodia and Bangladesh there is still more to be done to stop the use of child labor in the countries.

Child labor has been a problem in the past and is still a problem now. While there is still advancing protection against it is important to realize that things must be improved before we can call this a 100% free child-labor world. It is important to protect children and let them be kids. By letting more people know about the problem we can come up with solutions to stop this cycle.