Child Labour - Basic Concepts

As a nation, if young children are allowed to work, society is creating a class of uneducated people that will not be able to reach their full productive potential. Ultimately, the nation will be unable to complete with other international societies, especially in a world that relies on people’s capacity to use modern technology. The nation’s future doctors, engineers, artists, teachers, etc. cannot develop properly, and may even be condemned to a life of low – earning, self – deprecating labour.
The international standards set out by the United Nations and the International Labour Organization (ILO) help clarify what work is acceptable and what constitutes child labour. The UN and the ILO define child labour as “a term covering children who are directly or indirectly employed in an activity which deprives them of their childhood, affects their physical, moral, psychological and emotional well being and denies them their education,” In general, the central criteria for determining child labour are age and the characteristics of the work. According to the ILO, there are over 250 million children worldwide working in the jobs that could be identified as forms of child labour. This number is estimated to increase to over 1 billion if the current socio – economic problems persist. Children all over the world are being hired within a variety of economic sectors to do jobs in a range of potentially dangerous activities. As an international community, the initial steps towards the elimination of child labour must target those that are most vulnerable to potential health risk and socially damaging conditions.