Workshop 5 Summary...

'What are the key international regulations governing the prohibition of child labour, and do you think they are successful?'

Child labour refers to children under a minimum legal age, working full-time and such work harms them physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking access to education. This form of exploitation is considered illegal by international conventions. However, the main causes of such exploitation originates from poverty, unemployment and excess population. In order to counter such acts, various organizations such as United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are enacted.

The first international conventions is the U.N Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC). This is the most widely ratified multi-national treaty and following it's adoption, the world witnesses significant gains in the area of children's right. However, it is not as good as it seems to be. UNICEF claims that there is still 300,000 children in more than 30 countries are currently in armed conflict. Albeit CRC's afford, it seems that member countries fails to follow through with their promise.

Following CRC, ILO was set up too to protect children from the most extreme forms of exploitation. ILO Convention-182 has been ratified by 169 countries. For example, Brazil after ratifying the Convention-182, granted scholarships to more than a million poor children. This action has been a major success in the prevention of child labour. In 2006, a survey by ILO showed that school enrollment has increased. But then, for the U.S whom is a party to C-182 has not met its obligations under the Convention. A clear evidence of this is that U.S law still allow children to work long hours in hazardous jobs.

Internationally, efforts are made. But the onus falls on the member states to see that their promise and obligations goes through. But it is not easy since child labour has become much of a culture in certain countries and their economy might rely on child labour. The only way to break away from this cycle is education. With education, poverty can be managed and child labour will slowly decrease.