International Child Slave Labor
by Kaitlin Morecraft
October 2002
Although the United States has passed legislation to outlaw child labor, there are many countries throughout the world that do not practice a similar policy. Large corporations are constantly in search of ways to increase profits, and in most cases, it is the laborers who suffer. There are no international laws that guarantee the safety of employees, and in actuality, current laws encourage the practice of generating products in places with deplorable conditions and extremely low wages. Child labor has expanded astronomically in Pakistan, young boys in Bangladesh are dragged from their homes and forced into servitude, and working conditions in India for children employed in carpet-making factories are heartrending.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated the number of children working in Pakistan to be between eleven and twelve million. Approximately half of these children are under the age of ten, with the median age now entering the work force being seven. Children make up about a quarter of the unskilled work force, and can be found working in fields, factories, and workshops across the world. Many children are forced to compete with adults for a minimal amount of jobs. They often earn only a third of what adults make for an equal amount of work. Many industries in Pakistan thrive because of child labor, including brick and carpet-making.
In some countries, children enter the work force as soon as they are able to walk. Many farmlands use three-, four-, and five-year-olds to plow and seed fields for an excessive amount of hours throughout the day. In most situations, children work without much adult attention. Occasionally, a supervisor will mark their progress, give some instructions, and beat them for insufficient labor.
Bonding is also a common practice in extremely impoverished sections of Pakistan. Bonded children are viewed as commodities to their masters, and are often bought, sold, and traded like livestock. They are shipped long distances, and boys are beaten to make them work longer hours. Girls are often violated and raped by their masters and sold into prostitution.
In Bangladesh, boys as young as six-years-old, are smuggled from their homes to work as camel jockeys. They are often malnourished and suffer from severe emotional trauma. If the boys show any form of protest, they are whipped with the sticks used for the camels, and are then sent back to the races. Many young girls are similarly taken from their homes and sold into a global sex industry.
In India, the carpet-making industry demands that children work between twelve and eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, and without breaks. Owners only allow them to sleep for short time intervals and are usually chained to their looms. They are beaten by their masters with heavy objects for making mistakes, working too slowly, or crying for their parents. Working under such terrible conditions, children suffer from an innumerable amount of diseases, including typhoid, chronic kidney problems, and tuberculosis.
Although there exists a number of labor unions and coalitions who are constantly fighting for the rights of these children, it will be an extremely long time before these sweatshops are finally forced out of business. Children are greatly oppressed in these third world countries throughout the world, but with continued protests and support, hopefully these children will be spared.
Sources Used:
www.uniteunion.com
www.theatlantic.com
www.abcnews.com
www.antislavery.org
Mariko Curran