Ending child labour requires collaboration and patient work
Kanie Siu says the encouraging drop in the number of child workers over the years shows the problem can be effectively tackled by working together
Death of boy, 15, prompts crackdown on child labour in southern Chinese province
Earlier this year, I visited India and witnessed the harm of child labour. Children picking rags for a living are a common sight in Delhi. Due to poor hygiene, they often get infected with skin diseases.
I met one girl who, in order to support her family, makes and sells sling shots with her mother at home. At the age of 16, she is still illiterate and does not even know the alphabet as she has never had the opportunity to go to school.
In India, nearly 300 million people live in extreme poverty. Due to expensive school fees and poor teaching quality, many parents would rather keep their children out of school and start them working at a young age. It is estimated that India has 60 million child labourers. Girls are twice as likely as boys to drop out of school and work at home.
Apart from rag picking, over 1.7 million children, predominantly girls, are employed in the beedi cigarette rolling industry. Most girls work at least 14 hours a day to meet targets. They skip meals and avoid drinking water throughout the day just to save time going to the toilet. Despite the arduous work, they earn less than US$2 a day.
Child labour shames India’s middle class
In May 2015, the Indian government passed legislation to prohibit children between 14 and 18 years old from engaging in hazardous occupations. However, children under 14 are allowed to work in non-hazardous family enterprises and entertainment occupations. Despite the government’s aspiration to eliminate child labour, the new laws have failed to strengthen the protection for children as domestic labour is legalised.