Causes of Child Labour
- Overpopulation: The country is dealing with high unemployment, and due to a lack of opportunity, parents involve their children in small industries to earn a livelihood.
- Illiteracy: Lacks education and skills leading to less opportunity.
- Orphans: In search of food and daily income, they involve in dangerous jobs in factories
- Debt Trap: Poor remain poor from generation to generation and are stuck in a vicious cycle of debt.
- Urbanization: Rural to urban migration demands more money to survive, and parents involve their children in low wages jobs.
Child Labour Report by International Labour Organization
International Labour Organization has been the tripartite U.N. agency since 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles. Its headquarter is in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization works with the government, employers, and workers of 187 members. It sets labor standards and develops policies and programs that promote a supportive atmosphere for children and women and promotes internationally recognized labor and human rights.
As per ILO, “Child labor is defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.” It includes work that affects the child’s mental, physical, social, and moral aspects. It also talks about those work and their timing which affects their school hour and even their ability to concentrate during school hours. ILO has listed the work which does not come into child labor and doesn’t affect a child’s health and personal development, like helping their parents and earning pocket money outside school hours.
The United Nations considers June 12 as the ‘World Day Against Child Labour. ILO launched this day in 2002 to bring attention to the evil practices and to tackle the global issue.