Observing World Day against Child Labour should bear some fruit
Rayees Ahmad Kumar
Victims of child labour usually suffer from depression and anxiety, pushing them to destructive habits like smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) describes the term child labour as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
All work is however, not child labour, the ILO states that activities that contribute to the positive development of children like doing their share of household chores or earning pocket money in free time is not considered as child labour.
Child labour in particular refers to work…….
1) That is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children.
2) Interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
Despite efforts to curb child labour, around 152 million children across the globe are still in child labour. Though it occurs in almost all sectors, 7 out of every 10 of these children are working in agriculture.
In India around 12 percent of all children are engaged in some form of child labour. Hundreds of children drop out of school every year to help their parents to earn a livelihood. Many children are forced to work in dangerous situations by organized crime racket.
The social scenario has changed radically with the advent of industrialization and urbanization. Earlier the children were employed to agriculture and plantation only where they were involved in sowing, reaping, harvesting and thrusting etc. But urbanization has employed them in hazardous works like bidi rolling, fire cracker making, matchbox making, pencil making, bangle making and carpet making.
The world day against child labour is being observed across the world on June 12 every year. It was established by ILO in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. It brings together governments, employers and workers organisations , civil society as well as millions of people to highlight the plight of child labourers and measures to help them.
We know that child labour involves exploitation of children, but it is vital to understand how it is not only child victims but how society suffers when it is implemented. This damage isn’t one which can be sidelined and overlooked by those who are only concerned with their own selfish interests. It affects every single individual immediately as well as in long term.
Victims of child labour usually suffer from depression and anxiety, pushing them to destructive habits like smoking, alcoholism, drug abuse. Formative environments of abuse also lead to a lifetime of low self-esteem, depression and relationship difficulties.
Psychological and emotional conditions such as panic disorder, dissociative disorders, attention deficit, depression, anger and attachment disorders have also been noted in children who have grown up in abusive conditions.
Today child labour exists in many invisible forms. Normally we ignore every day incidents of child labour around us, such as the children working as hawkers, or minor used as servants for work like cooking , cleaning utensils and sweeping floors.
It is a curse to our society and a crime against humanity. Children work when they are supposed to play or go to school. The sad thing is that they work under hazardous conditions. Though acute poverty is considered as the main cause for child labour throughout the world. Everybody, society, parents, governments, individuals, low wages, unemployment, poor standard of living and backwardness are directly responsible for child labour in India.
The main objective of Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act 1986 is to address the social concern and prohibit the engagement of child who haven’t completed 14th year of age in certain employments and to regulate the conditions of work of children has been prohibited in occupations related to transport, goods, bidi making, carpet weaving, manufacturing of matches, soaps, building and construction industry.
Need of the hour is to formulate more strong legislations against child labour and then their strict implementation. Then on this menace will disappear from the society.
