History of Child Laborers

Industrial Revolution
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the world saw child labor in a new light. Before, child labor was regarded as children helping their fathers with agriculture and chores. Along with new technology came a vast increase in the exploitation of children. Not only were these children used in factories and warehouses, but in the most extreme cases they were forced into the military and prostitution. Even though child labor was not necessarily new to the world, it spiked drastically during the 1780s and 1840s. Children were housed in very poor conditions out of the sight and reach of inspectors. They were forced to do the tedious tasks “skilled” laborers would not, such as assembling boxes.

Africa
In Africa, there are an estimated 80 million child workers. This number could rise to 100 million in 2015. This is believed to be because of the nation’s extreme poverty. Many children, under the age of fourteen, leave their families to go find work. The majority of these kids do not find what they seek and wind up being prostitutes, involved in criminal activity, involved in the drug trade, or even slavery. Even the children who do find jobs (with actual pay) the way they are treated is comparable to slavery. Children who are beaten or prey to sexual predators is not uncommon in areas like Burkina Faso, where poverty rates are through the roof. These children are worked between 10 to 20 hours a day carrying heavy loads and not getting adequate nourishment and rest. Many are worked to death through illness and accidents. The children who are subject to prostitution may suffer from many sexually transmitted diseases, the main one being HIV/AIDS. Despite counter efforts, child labor and trafficking is still on the rise in certain parts of Africa. There are efforts to track the traffickers, and ships have even been searched. However, not all of these practices are effective. Traffickers still manage to get away with selling kids as slaves and sex products.

Help?
Several organizations have been brought about to stop the worst forms of child labor such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the UN Children Funds (UNICEF). Authorities in the areas with high rates of child labor have been better educated about the dangers of child labors. Even so, there is still so much more that needs to be done. Because child labor and poverty are linked, it is believed by many that the only solution is for the children’s families to have a greater income. But how does a family in such great poverty just decide to make more money? In my opinion, more needs to be done than just cutting the most severe child laborers. Money needs to be put back into the economy. How and from where, I don’t quite know yet.



Child Labor in Africa

History of Child Labor

Blog Topic

In a Nutshell

In theory, globalization is meant to connect the world’s economies through trade and communication.  However, it is more focused on economics.  Although, it is not meant to be a bad system, in reality what happens is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  The poor aren’t just lazy adults as we would all like to believe.  Children are victims as well.

My Idea

I chose to focus my blog on children in Africa who suffer the consequences of globalization.  There are approximately 80 million child laborers in Africa today.  That’s around 40% of Africa’s children between the ages of 5 and 14 years.  Not only do the children suffer the possibility of working in a sweat shop, but they are abused, sexually exploited, and abducted.  Children are an easy target because they are more naïve than adults.  They are less aware of their rights, they are more trusting, easier to discipline, easier to manipulate, and are more likely to follow orders.  Not to mention, they are expendable.  Because children do not have special skills, they are more apt to be disposed of.   

What I Want to Know

As a criminal justice major I feel I should be more aware of the problems that exist not only in our own country, but others as well.  Especially when our major corporations are the reason young children are not aware of their rights, or do not have any for that matter.  I want to know what is happening behind the scenes; what no one wants to talk about, but everyone contributes to.  I feel like it is my duty as a consumer to know what I am really purchasing when I buy a name brand item.

A little bit about children around the globe suffering from globalization:

http://faculty.chi.devry.edu/gharris/humn410/homework_articles/ChildrenandGlobalization.htm