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Srividya K.S.
“The future of our world lies in the hands, the hearts and the minds of our children.”
– David Decker
Children are the key to the future; the more successfully they mature into adults, the more prosperous the nation and the globe will be. Child labour is a human rights issue and the consequences are faced not only by the children but also by the global socio-economy. It robs children of their childhood and increases exploitation in various forms.
Children around the world are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of employment that are not harmful to them. However, they are categorised 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 developing countries, slightly more than one in every four children (ages 5 to 17) are engaged in labour that is considered detrimental to their health and development.
International Statistics
Around 218 million children work on a part-time or full-time basis around the world. 152 million children between the ages of 5-17,, almost half of them i.e 73 million, in hazardous child labour, in that, 48%of the victims were aged 5-11; 28% were 12-14 years old; and 24% were 15-17 years old.Child labour is concentrated primarily in agriculture is (71%) , 17% in services; and 12% in the industrial sector, including mining.
Africa ranks highest among regions in the percentage of children in child labour. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in the measures. 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). As we can see that child labour prevails whole over world.9% of all children in lower-middle-income countries, and 7% of all children in upper-middle-income countries, are in child labour. Statistics reveals that the number of children in child labour in each national income grouping indicate that 84 million children are in child labour, accounting for 56% of all actually live in middle-income countries, and an additional 2 million live in high-income countries.The most heart breaking thing is that the number of children in child labour has climbed to 160 million worldwide, an increase of 8.4 million in the last four years, with 9 million more children at danger as a result of COVID-19 pandemic period.
Closer to home
In South Asia according to UNICEF, It estimates 12 percent of the children aged 5-14 years are involved in child labour. In South Asia child labour is combined product of many factors such as poverty, lack od decent work opportunities for adolescents and adults etc. But this is not the only cause but also the consequences of social inequalities reinforced by discrimination.UNICEF's recent study points out inequality, which stems from gender, age, socio-economic status, caste/ethnicity, influences the chance of children engaging in child labour, types of work they engage and severity of exploitation.
As we have seen the trends and statistics around the world, when we come to Nepal the fact is that the overall rate of child labour in Nepal is diminishing, but still prevalent.In Nepal, one in three children of age 5 to 17 – has to work, representing 2.8 million children overall. Almost all of them work in hazardous conditions. Nepal is also prone to natural disasters, like the earthquakes of 2015, which weaken and disrupt child protection systems and expose children, their families and communities to an increased risk of violence, exploitation, socio-economic destruction and neglect. This leads the family to think about an extra income earning person from the family, thus the children are being thrown out of their childhoods and are deprived of their rights too.
Global measures
The mission to eliminate child labour and giving them their phase of innocence is a responsibility of whole world together. Eliminating child labour will help address poverty, strengthen economies and positively influence education, health and protection systems worldwide. The organizations like UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have announced plans to strengthen their cooperation in the global fight against child labour.UNICEF supports communities in changing their cultural acceptance of child labour, while supporting strategies and programming to provide alternative income to families, access to child care, quality education, and protective services.
Our organizational initiative
On the eve of the United Nations' International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour ,we are also beginning a pathway. Our journey is starting from Kamaltar, it is a rural area of Nepal where alcoholism affected the society badly. Here, the children are not aware of importance of education and other opportunities. The society here has a vast cultural and caste diversity and there are many conservative practices like untouchability still prevails. Even the children from here are sold in Kathmandu and India and forced to work as child labourers. The children here seek guidance and direction for their careers, our organisation mostly focuses on this and also provides them with every possible facility and education for free and motivates them.
References
https://www.unicef.lu/press_releases/childlabournepal/
