Child labour: Growing menace in an uncertain world

Lalit Garg

(The writer can be reached at lalitgarg11@gmail.com)

Child labour is a burning issue all over the world. What an irony that our society, government and politicians do not get tired of repeating that children are the future of the country, but do nothing to corroborate with their actions! It appears like a well-planned conspiracy to snatch away the childhood from children, and the right to education from about 25 to 30 crore children through the menace of child labour. Nobody would have imagined that their childhood experience would become so scary and horrifying. After all, what is the reason that childhood is leading into the blind alleys of child labourand crime? Why is childhood being so neglected? Not only parents, but society and the government have also become careless towards childhood. These questions agitate us, while we celebrate the World Day against Child Labour which comes every year on June 12. The initiative to celebrate this day was taken up by the International Labour Organization (ILO), whose aim is to stop child labour. The official theme of World Day Against Child Labour 2024 is— ‘Let’s act on our commitments—end child labour!’ This day presents an important opportunity to raise awareness, advocate for change, and contribute towards a future free from child labour.

The reason behind celebrating this special day was to motivate children towards schools for education. Child labour is a serious problem the world over, due to which their formative years are laid waste, and they are denied their rights. Childhoodis sinking under the weight of drugs, crime and complications due to child labour. When we pass through any street, intersection, or market, and see a 12-14 year old child at some shop, factory, restaurant or eatery, filling air in tyres, repairing punctures, operating machines, cleaning utensils or serving food, and for even the slightest mistake, he is mistreated, abused and beaten by the owner or a customer, then we often go our way saying ‘what do we have to do with it’ or at the most asking the owner in hushed voice to show some mercy to the child. But for how long shall we, and the larger society, allow childhood to be tortured and neglected in this manner?

This day is also observed to motivate individuals, NGOs and government organisations to take strict action against child labour, to work towards eliminating it completely. According to the United Nations, for the past two decades, continuous initiatives have been taken up to reduce child labour all over the world. But in the past few years, conflicts, crises, and the coronaviruspandemic have pushed many families in the world into poverty, due to which in a surge millions of children have been forced into child labour. Today’s child will become the creator of tomorrow’s society. The future society will definitely be shaped by the moral inclination and interest of the child. Today, 160 million children are engaged in child labour,which is about one in ten children worldwide. Africa tops all regions in terms of child labour. About nine out of every ten children engaged in child labour globally are in Africa and Asia and the Pacific. The remaining child labour population is divided between the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million) and the Arab States (1 million). While the percentage of children in child labour is highest in low-income countries, their number is actually higher in middle-income countries. Nine percent of children in low-middle income countries and 7 percent of children in upper-middle income countries are engaged in child labour.

While much progress has been made in reducing child labour over the past few years, global trends have reversed in recent years; and now more than ever it is important to work together to accelerate action towards eliminating child labour in all forms. The Durban Call to Action adopted by delegates after the Fifth Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in 2022 shows the way. Now is the time to make elimination of child labour a reality. It is known that the main cause of child labour is poverty, due to which children are forced to leave their studies and choose the path of labour. However, many children are forced into child labour by crime syndicates. Talking about India, according to government figures, no less than two crore— yet according to the ILO, about 5 crore children are child labourers. Of these child labourers, about 19 percent are domestic servants; in rural and unorganised sectors, about 80 percent are associated with the agricultural sector. In the remaining areas, the parents of the children sell them to contractors for very little money who put them to work in hotels, brothels and other factories etc. Employers give the children little food and make them do whatever they want. Working for 18 hours or more, ill-fed, and getting beaten up if the work is not done as per their wish becomes their life.

Apart from household work with all its drudgery and abuse, child labourers are also engaged in strenuous and risky work like making fireworks, matchsticks, welding, brass and other metal industries, locks, glassware, diamond industry, bidis and tobacco industry, weaving carpets, as well as working in agricultural farms, coal mines, stone quarries, brick kilns, cement factories, medicine industry, and washing utensils in hotels and dhabas. There are other works like picking garbage, collecting polythene bags and plastic bottles etc.,due to which children do not get to live their childhood, suffer hell,hearing neither their mothers’ lullabies nor getting their fathers’ love, no toys or play, no school nor Children’s Day. Their world is limited, filled with endless work to feed their families, gradually picking up half-burnt bidis and addictive substances, and some becoming victims of sexual exploitation. How can we imagine a strong nation on these weak foundations? In the name of making children self-reliant since childhood, they are being pushed into dark dungeonsas money-making machines. Organizations like BachpanBachaoAndolan, Child Fund, Care India, Talaash Association, Child Rights, and Global March Against Child Labor have taken meaningful initiatives towards ending child labour.

Child labour not only pushes children into a dark future, the country is also not left untouched.When toiling children are miles away from education, how will they take their country forward? It is necessary to bridge the communication gap between parents and children, to foster a supportive environment full of affection, intimacy and trust. The government should reconsider the laws related to children, and make plans for the proper development of young citizens.