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Child labor is done by any working child who is under the age specified by law. The word, “work” means full time commercial work to sustain self or add to the family income. Child labor is a hazard to a Child’s mental, physical, social, educational, emotional and spiritual development. Broadly any child who is employed in activities to feed self and family is being subjected to “child labor’.
It is obligatory for all countries to set a minimum age for employment according to the rules of ILO written in Convention 138(C.138). The stipulated age for employment should not be below the age for finishing compulsory schooling, that is not below the age of 15. Developing countries are allowed to set the minimum age at 14 years in accordance with their socio- economic circumstances.
C-138 has also made provisions for flexibility for certain countries, setting the minimum age of 12 and 13 for their children - but only for partaking in light work. Light work can be defined as children’s participation in only those economic activities which do not damage their health and development or interfere with their education. Yes, work that does not obstruct with a child’s education is considered light work and allowed from age 12 under the International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 138). It is because of this that many children employed in part time work like learning craft or other skills of a hereditary nature are not called child labors. The same work translates into child labor if a child is thrown into weaving carpets, working into factories or some other employment to earn money to sustain self, or augment his family’s income - without being given school education and allowed opportunities for normal social interactions. A child working part time (3-4 hours) to learn and earn for self and parents after school, is not considered ‘child labor’.
The Industrial revolution had ushered in the horrendous practice of employing children of 4 and 5 years in factories in environmental conditions, which were risky for their health and well being, often proving fatal. Developed countries have reacted sharply to this historical fact by equating “child labor” with human right violation. However poor countries are more accepting about child labor as a living necessity.
The year 1990 witnessed all countries of the world except United States and Somalia become a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The strongest, most consistent language in legal terminology prohibiting illegal child labor is provided by the CRC. However it does not establish the practice of child labor as legally punishable.
Employment with others and self employment both come under the aegis of ‘child labor’. It has been seen that children who are street sellers, street entertainers, rag pickers, child prostitutes or pornography models, beggers etc - are mostly without natural guardians and exploited by underground gangsters and racketeers. These children are mostly children of illegal migrants. They are the victim of abandonment, riots, wars or just sheer poverty and homelessness. In poor countries some children are helping hands for their parents or are employed in factories, commercial organizations or households with the consent of the parents. The most appalling form of child labor is prostitution and modeling for child pornography. Some children are even sold to fiefs by their parents for money.
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