By: Victoria Burleigh
My half of the presentation was to provide general information about labour in Britain in the 19th century. For my blog entry, I chose to inform you all of the current child labour around the world. The objective of this is to show you that the laws pertaining to inhumane labour has not improved excessively, or rather the actions taken to ensure the regulations are followed are not substantial.
Currently child labour is considered a violation of human rights and is illegal, according to wealthier countries; however some undeveloped countries around the world do allow, or tolerate child labour. Most commonly we consider child labour to be in countries far away from our Western world. Unexpectedly, I found an article concerning child labour in China, supposedly a very wealthy country.
In 2005 Megan Grau wrote an article concerning child slave labour in China. The International Labour Organization (ILO), which is an organization responsible for supervising international labour standards, estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries. Among these numbers 61 percent are in Asia. Despite the current regulations against child labour, it is a current issue in China.
These children are forced to work in sweatshops, with extreme exploitation, meaning they are used for merely selfish, profitable ends. These conditions include the lack of accessible living, extreme discipline and inhumane working conditions. The wages they are forced to live on do not pay for their forlorn living expenses, therefore these children and their families are forced to reside in a never-ending nightmare of a cycle.
Grau explains that child labour is rapidly increasing, specifically around Hong Kong. The reasons for this is the massive amount of drop outs and expansions of foreign investment in the export driven enterprises; however there is evidence that school children are being exploited. The workforce in China for young children involves export industries such as garments, textiles, fireworks and toys. Yet, it seems that child labour does not happen anywhere near us, but you would be surprised.
In 2009, campaigners in the UK accused H & M and Zara retail businesses of using cotton suppliers in Bangladesh. Also, many of their raw materials originated from Uzbekistan, where children at the age of 10 are forced to work in the fields.
Even closer to home, in 2008 Commissioner David Neil found a meatpacking company in Postville, Iowa that had recently been investigated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This company had actually employed 57 minors, some as young as 14, in violation of the state law prohibiting anyone under 18 from working in a meatpacking plant.
The main objection of this blog entry is to show you guys that child labour is still happening around the world, even as close as the country right next to us. Although it seems like it is not affecting us as we are not directly involved, it does have a very serious global effect.
I’ve also included a link for youtube. It is basically a slide show of pictures that will show you the extent of child labour. Hope you guys like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJVPJDOYyCc&feature=related
Work Cited
Grau, Megan. “Child Slave Labor in China.” Ihscslnews.org. N.p. May 2005. Web. February
2011.
About the ILO. Ilo.org. N.P. 2011. Web. February 2011.
Child Labour. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. N.p. January 28, 2011. Web. February 2011.
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