WHAT ARE SOME SOLUTIONS TO CHILD LABOR?

WHAT ARE SOME SOLUTIONS TO CHILD LABOR?

Not necessarily in this order:

1. Increased family incomes
2. Education — that helps children learn skills that will help them earn a living
3. Social services — that help children and families survive crises, such as disease, or loss of home and shelter
4. Family control of fertility — so that families are not burdened by children

The ILO’s International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) has explored many programs to help child laborers. See IPEC documents on the www.ilo.org site.

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for children to participate in important decisions that will affect their lives.

Some educators and social scientists believe that one of the most important ways to help child workers is to ask their opinions, and involve them in constructing "solutions" to their own problems. Strong advocates of this approach are Boyden, Myers and Ling; Concerned for Working Children in Karnataka, India; many children’s "unions" and "movements," and the Save the Children family of non-governmental organizations.