Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child labour as, ‘work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development’. According to the ILO, child labour refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and 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. In its most extreme forms, child labor involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities often at a very early age. Not all work done by children is child labor. Activities that contribute to a child’s positive
Today is World anti child Labour day
development and provide skills and experience for them to become productive members of society are not child labor. Children around the world are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that are not harmful to them. However, they are classified as child labourers when they are either too young to work, or are involved in hazardous activities that may compromise their physical, mental, social or educational development. In the least developed countries, slightly more than one in four children (ages 5 to 17) is engaged in labour that is considered detrimental to their health and development. Poverty is one of the main reasons for child labour because of which children are forced to left their school and opt for menial jobs to support their parents for their livelihood. Moreover, some are forced into child labour by organized crime rackets.
Rightly called as the children of a lesser God, statistics about them is really very shocking. According to the United nations, at the global level, 152 million children between the ages of 5-17 were in child labour, almost half them about 73 million are in hazardous occupations. Almost half (48%) of the victims of child labour are aged 5-11, 28% are 12-14 years old, and 24% are 15-17 years old. Child labour is concentrated primarily in agriculture (71%) and this includes fishing, forestry, livestock herding and aquaculture; 17% in services and 12% in the industrial sector, including mining. Almost one in ten children worldwide is in child labour. While the number of children in child labour has declined by 94 million since 2000, the rate of reduction slowed by two third in recent years. Africa ranks highest among regions both in the percentage of children in child labour one-fifth and the absolute number of children in child labour
72 million. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in both these measures 7% of all children and 62 million in absolute terms are in child labour in this region. The Africa and the Asia and the Pacific regions together account for almost nine out of every ten children in child labour worldwide. The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab States (1 million). In terms of incidence, 5% of children are in child labour in the Americas, 4% in Europe and Central Asia, and 3% in the Arab States. While the percentage of children in child labour is highest in low-income countries, their numbers are actually greater in middle-income countries. 9% all children in lower-middle-income countries, and 7% of all children in upper-middle-income countries, are in child labour. Statistics on the absolute number of children in child labour in each national income grouping indicate that 84 million children in child labour, accounting for 56% of all those in child labour, actually live in middle-income countries, and an additional 2 million live in high-income countries.
The child labour problem is also prevalent in India. As per Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group (5-14) years was 259.6 million. Of these, 10.1 million (3.9% of total child population) were working, either as ‘main worker’ or as ‘marginal worker’. In addition, more than 42.7 million children in India were out of school.
Five states in India are biggest child labour employers. These five states are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttarpradesh. Over half of India’s total child labour population works here. Uttarpradesh is the hub of child labour having 20 per cent of the country’s child labourers. A study by Compaign against Child Labour, India had 1, 26, 66, 377 child labourers of which Uttarpradesh had 19, 27, 997 child labourers. However, the good news is that the incidence of child labour has decreased in India by 2.6 million between 2001 and 2011. The decline was more visible in rural areas, while the number of child workers has increased in urban areas, indicating the growing demand for child workers in menial jobs. Child labour has different ramifications in both rural and urban India. The reduction in child labour has been due to govt. programmes like Right to Education, Mid Day Meal, and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
World Anti Child Labour Day is observed on June 12 every year across the world. The day was introduced in 2002 by the International Labour Organization. There is no doubt that child labour impedes children from gaining the skills and education they need to have opportunities of decent work as an adult. Inequality, lack of educational opportunities, slow demographic transition, traditions and cultural expectations all contribute to the persistence of child labour in India. This day provides us an opportunity to provide environment for children to grow and live a dignified life and to fight against child labour throughout the world. This day mainly focuses on the children development and it protects the right of education and dignified life for the children. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also calls for an end to child labour in all its forms by 2025. It calls upon all the member countries to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labor in all its forms. At the global level as well as country level different agencies and organizations are working to eradicate the menace of child labour, it is also our moral duty to help in eliminating the child labour. It is correctly said that the child that comes out of child labour comes to know his or her potential and self worth. They began to enjoy life, human rights and live a dignified life. No doubt such children will also contribute in the economic and social growth of the country and also of the world. Let all of us on this day pledge to work for the betterment of these children by providing them the right kind of environment where they can flourish well, realize their potential and attain great height by fulfilling their dreams.
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