1/5th of the world’s children and counting: the increasing issue of child labour

Tuesday of this week, June 12, marked the 10th World Day Against Child Labour. As reported by the International Labour Organisation, of all the children in the world today, more than 200 million are child labourers. This equates to nearly a fifth of the world’s children and includes nearly a quarter of all children in Sub Saharan Africa where child labour is most widespread (ILO, 2003).

Poverty is one of the most common reasons for a child to start working, either of their own will or coerced by others.  Persistent economic constraint and uncertainty in many countries due to the ongoing effects of the 2008 financial crisis, have contributed to an increasing number of children working to supplement family incomes (the Guardian, 2012).

There is some criticism for the stance taken against child labour based on the argument that without that income, children and their families would be much worse off. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of all child labourers are not paid and a study conducted in Brazil revealed that former child labourers were three times more likely to need their own children to work. As this finding illustrates, child labour has an intergenerational impact as it denies children an education and consequently limits their future opportunities.

Child labour is in direct contravention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and it is not limited to developing countries. The demand for cheap products in developed countries and responsive supply chains that use child labour spread the problem throughout the world. A 2009 report by the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs (ILAB) listed a diverse range of goods that are produced through child labour or forced labour, many of which are commonly found in developed country homes and stores. The campaign ‘products of slavery’ has drawn on this data to produce a global map, showing where products are made using child or forced labour.

Additionally, as illustrated by the Maplecroft Child Labour Index of 2012, which evaluates the frequency and severity of reported labour incidents in 197 countries, child labour is alarmingly widespread and growing. The Index has categorised 40% of countries as extreme risk and only 32 as low risk. Described another way, 76 countries now pose extreme child labour complicity risks, more than a 10% increase from last year’s total of 68. Worsening global security, conflict and economic downturn are put forward as reasons for this increase (the Guardian, 2012).

Education is fundamental to achieving the elimination of child labour and functions both to prevent it and address it. The Brookings Institute’s Global Compact on Education report - Wikichild’s spotlight this week – reports that every year of additional education reduces a country’s chances of falling into war by 3.6%, and can add 10% to an individual’s annual earnings. Thus education mitigates the driving factors behind child labour and helps to address the intergenerational trap.

An estimated 136 million children and youth are still out of primary and lower secondary school. The majority of them are girls and a significant proportion live in Sub Saharan Africa and South West Africa. Progress has been made on improving education outcomes in recent years, driven in particular by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) movements (Brookings Institute, 2011), however as these figures illustrate more needs to be done. Days such as the World Day Against Child Labour provide the opportunity to take stock of progress, what strategies work and what is left to be done.


Hannah Chadwick
Wikichild Coordinator

The role of children in measuring their own well-being

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, states that a ‘child who is capable of forming his or her own views (has) the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child’ (OHCHR).

The application of subjective indicators to measure child well-being have somewhat been inspired by this article in the CRC and their usage has been the subject of much debate. Relying on children to effectively communicate and capture their own sense of well-being has been seen as problematic and arguments against it are commonly based on two main points. Firstly, adults know better than children and as a result they don’t need to be consulted and secondly, children are not capable of articulating their feelings (The New Economics, 2009). Also as stated by the OECD, little is known about the policy amenability of child measures of subjective well-being (OECD, 2009).

The applicability of these arguments does depend on the age of the child. Whilst for very young children they may be valid, evidence shows that children slightly older than preschool age do know what is important to them and that therefore they can provide insightful information that is relevant and important for policy development. Additionally the world of children today is very different to that of the adults who care for them or who comment on their well-being and therefore it may equally be argued that their perceptions are not wholly relevant (The New Economics, 2009).

Children’s perceptions of life and how they feel do differ from those of adults who may be more conditioned or influenced by experiences over the years. In this regard, it is pertinent that measurements take this into consideration and the inclusion of positive as well as negative indicators in child subjective well-being measurements, which allow for assessment of well-being and ill-being, could be argued to be more appropriate and less directive of results.

References

OECD, 2009, Doing better for children, Chapter 2 ‘Comparative Child Well-being across the OECD’, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/4/43570328.pdf

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm#art5

The New Economics, 2009, A guide to measuring children’s well-being, http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/guide-measuring-children%E2%80%99s-well-being

CRC and governments delivering on commitments: Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner

New Zealand, Britain, Sweden and Norway each have one and last week it was announced that by the end of 2012, Australia will have a National Children’s Commissioner. Sitting within the Australian Human Rights Commission, the National Commissioner’s role will be to promote the rights, well-being and development of children and young people in Australia. The Commissioner will raise awareness of issues affecting children, undertake research and education programs and monitor the Government’s legislation, policy and programs relating to children’s rights, well-being and development (Attorney General for Australia, 2012).

The responsibilities of the National Commissioner are in line with the General Measure of Implementation (GIM) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states the importance of establishing co-ordinating and monitoring bodies to ensure that all children enjoy all rights of the Convention (UNHCR, 2003).

The Convention on the Rights of the child is the most ratified treaty in the world. Yet this strong show of commitment by governments is not always reflected in action. In many countries, some of the rights set out in the Convention are yet to be incorporated into national legislation meaning that although the commitment has been made at an international level, there is no legal instrument at a national level to ensure its implementation.

In Australia assessments of the quality of child well-being have shown some poor results, despite the country being a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, developed, wealthy and peaceful with low levels of poverty.

Drawing on a UNICEF IRC 2007 publication, ‘Child poverty in perspective: an overview of child well-being in rich countries’, in 2008 UNICEF Australia partnered with the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) to develop a unique report card on the wellbeing of young Australians. With the absence of internationally-agreed upon indicators of child well-being, the CRC is an ideal source of guidance and was applied in both studies to assess the situation for children. In the Australia study eight dimensions of child well-being were used for analysis:

1. Material well-being
2. Health and safety
3. Educational well-being
4. Relationships
5. Behaviours and risks
6. Subjective well-being
7. Participation
8. Environment

The findings of the report revealed that Australia’s progress was behind that of many other developed nations in some indicators. Indigenous Australian babies were found to have the lowest birth weight in the OECD and Australia ranked 20^th of 27 countries for infant mortality. Teenage pregnancy rates were significantly higher than the OECD average and those for Indigenous young Australians were the highest in the OECD. School achievement for Indigenous young Australians was in the bottom 10% with only two other countries achieving lower scores, Mexico and Turkey (ARACY, 2008).

These results are indicative of how achieving and maintaining child well-being can be a complex process. The presence of peace, economic prosperity, social protection and welfare and, regulatory frameworks are all important factors that contribute to an environment conducive to promoting the well-being of children. However, other strategies are required to ensure delivery on commitments and that the specific needs of disadvantaged populations are met.  

The assurance of children’s well-being requires a holistic and multidimensional approach and coordination across ministries and between actors to ensure the social, physical, nutritional, cognitive and emotional developmental needs of children of all ages, living in all different contexts, are met. Additionally, the implementation of initiatives requires monitoring and evaluation and the measurement of progress to ensure accountability and the effective use of resources.

The move by the Australian government to prioritise children and their needs through the nomination of a National Commissioner demonstrates recognition of the importance of children’s rights and well-being and is a hugely positive step towards achieving progress in these areas and improving the situation for all children in Australia.

Wikichild Consultant

Hannah Chadwick

Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY), 2008, the ARACY Report Card on the Well-being of Young Australians: Technical Report, ARACY, CanberraAustralian Research

Attorney General for Australia, 2012, Gillard Government to establish National Children's Commissioner, Media Release 29.04.2012, (Accessed 07.05.2012), Available at:  http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Media-releases/Pages/2012/Second%20Quarter/29-April-2012---Gillard-Government-to-establish-National-Childrens-Commissioner.aspx?zbrandid=2039&zidType=CH&zid=2771439&zsubscriberId=504179093&zbdom=http://aracy.informz.net 

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), 2003, GENERAL COMMENT No. 5 (2003), General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (arts. 4, 42 and 44, para. 6), (Accessed 08.05.2012), Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/3bba808e47bf25a8c1256db400308b9e/$FILE/G0345514.pdf 

Save the Children Australia, 2010, National Children's commissioner: Our Position, Policy, Research and Advocacy Department, (Accessed 07.05.2012), Available at: http://www.savethechildren.org.au/resources/position-papers/national-childrens-commissioner.html 

UNICEF IRC, 2006, The General Measures of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, (Accessed 07.05.2012), Available at: http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/415