School desk or forced labour? Slaves of modern era

About 246 million children -  between the ages of 5 and 17 – are forced to work in the World nowadays. It is estimated that more than eight million children live as slaves. The eradication of child labour in international prostitution and the drug trade would be the most urgent, because both are dangerous for the children, for the families and for the society too. Child labour is the main cause of poverty, but not only this is the reason.

Most children forced to work for a living. They  live in material and spiritual misery,  without social and primary health care. Millions of girls work like low-paid domestic servants and  fall into the trap of working: they are the children of sexual violence and trafficking of children is also threatening. More than half of Asian children work, and  the situation is very bad in Sub-Saharan Africa too, where one in six minor works.

Children work often in agriculture,  in factories, and in mines too. Most terrifying fate of the children, who are forced into prostitution, drug trade, or are brought into child soldiers training. Because of  the low level of self-advocacy, children work in dangerous or harmful environments (mines, chemical plants, etc). There are lots children (especially girls), who work like a “servant” of the affluent people.

Not only an economic issue

Although there is no doubt that the prevalence of child labour in many cultural aspects, its existence is essentially fueled by economic factors. In the developing world – in traditional economy (mainly agriculture-based) – the children’s work was very important. For thousands of years nothing was more natural than that the children (both boys and girls) have been integrated into the farming system before the age of puberty.

Industrialization brought no significant change, however, it was worse. Also we need to know that the child labour is not merely a cultural or economic dilemma, but also human rights, and fundamental moral issue. The employment of children is not merely that it is to deprive them of the possibilities of upward social mobility, but that child labor in most cases is a form of modern slavery. The children not only work, but under circumstances and work in conditions which are incompatible with fundamental rights.

Truism that the child’s work – even with all the economic restructuring – can only be removed if there are nobody who is apply to children. Most recently, a scandal erupted in late winter, when came to light that the Apple, Chinese computer factories had regular apply to kids. But child laborers worked also at a previously-known giant companies like Unilever, Monsanto, or Nike. From India come the most of goods, which is a result of child or forced labour. Cotton, sugarcane, cocoa, tobacco, coffee and rice – these are the most common products around the world, children are forced work or from work. The cotton production in China and Uzbekistan uses most of these workers. In Nigeria and in Ivory Coast, on cocoa fields work force adults and children without their free will, while in Peru and the gold mines in Burkina Faso languishing forced laborers.

Philip Morris – 36 doses of nicotine per day

Often without pay, long hours and almost inhuman conditions was working children with their family members on the supplier of Philip Morris tobacco multi company’s  plantations in Kazakhstan for long years to 2011. Many of the child workers were barely 10 years old. Work on tobacco plantations is one of the most pernicious forms of child labor, because of  high levels of nicotine and pesticides.

Because of work, these children kept out of school. Those people who work  in the tobacco fields, breathing into their body about 36 threads of cigarette per day with through their skin. The employers gave salary to the guest workers, only after the  eight or nine-month tobacco end of the season. At the farms none was suitable for drinking water, they had to drink from the nearby brooks, rivers and or canals for irrigation in the tobacco fields.

History of one of darkness chapters of Switzerland – Verdingkinder

Victims of the Verdingkinder were mostly children from poor families who were the authorities forcibly broke away from their parents and sent to farms to work. Many were beaten every day for years, or sexually abused, and because virtually no education, life is much less likely for them to run the same age as more fortunate peers.

These children didn’t eat at a table with the family, with few rations were given to beat almost every day, but it is also the case that had to live in the basement. “One morning, when I was four, my mother took me on a train way out into the country, to a farm. Then she said, you have to stay here now. I think that was the moment I lost my faith in people, I had to work from the start, they hit me almost every day, it was bad.” – said Peter Weber, who now 55 and he has never forgotten the day, over 50 years ago, when his childhood ended.

Some children were lucky enough to stay in farming families who cared for them, but by and large they were used as child labourers, in an era, when Swiss agriculture was not mechanised, and a great deal of work had to be done by hand.

Child prostitution

Says, while there  is demand until there is goods too. The money does not matter, and the child’s life is not worth a hole in pennies. Institutional conditions raised, orphaned young are at greatest danger. And children who are sold for a bowl of soup by their parents. Institutional conditions raised, orphaned young are at greatest danger. And children who are sold for a bowl of soup by their parents.

Sometimes there isn’t violence, all start innocently. Adults promise a job for children, for example in the hospitality industry, which is not too difficult task entrusted to them: clean the desks or remove garbage, sometimes washing. This is an invisible process. When the children realize this, she/he gets over the first caressing and got the first salary because of this. A significant proportion of these children become depend on  alcohol, drug  and multiple suicide attempts are carried out.  If they survive their clients and this hellish childhood, and if they able to leave this “industry” can not find their place in the world.

Children beggars

The children begging problem there is in many countries around the world,  however, they react very differently this terrible phenomenon. The parents and children begging in Europe is usually a minority, or legally or illegally residing in the country belong to the group, mostly gipsies. This is  complicates the situation because they are often completely disordered status, health and social services do not reach them or because their home is not reported, or because they are hiding that the authorities can not reach them, and who would not refuse, do not punish them. For example in Romania, a whole industry built on the child beggars. Many people got rich from it, children and their mother are forced to beg on the streets of Europe.

Long-term the education – especially the education of girls – is the key of solve.  The temporary grant doesn’t solve the problem of developing countries to catch up. This can be solved only in economic restructuring, which in turn is dominated by a highly skilled workforce. The intensive work, however undermines the child’s primary education. It should be recognized that although the children’s work might bring some additional income in the short term, by the longer term to drop out of school, and this actually perpetuate poverty and underdevelopment.

Written by Ilona Kaszanyi

Tagged Child labour, Interest, labor rights, Slavery, slaves