By Sonali Bhatnagar, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun.
Everything has been said already; but as
No one listens, we must always begin again.
-Andre Gide
What is Child Labour? Child labour is commonly defined as work done by children under the age of 18 years that may be harmful to their physical, emotional, intellectual and social development[1]. Is not a recent phenomenon and again, not confined to a particular country. More than 200 million[2] children around the world today are deprived of a childhood. Forced to work in fields, mines and factories, many children’s plight is highly visible. But many more children suffer in the hidden dimensions of child labour, such as domestic work, sexual exploitation, human trafficking and slavery. Today, one out of every seven children in the world is involved in child Labour[3]. Child labour covers every non-school going child irrespective of whether the child is engaged in wage or non-wage work; whether he or she is working for their family; whether employed in hazardous or non-hazardous occupations; whether employed on a daily or on a contract basis or as a bonded laborers[4]. Child labour has a long history; it exists in various forms such as street trading, gardening, child caring, handicrafts, prostitution and trafficking and factors such as poverty, ignorance, culture, corruption, ineffective laws and the lack of will to enforce them, are some causes of child labour. (more…)