1. Child Labor in the 21 st Century The Well-Being of Children in The Contemporary Global System

2. Labor & Well-Being ► Rapid change in the contemporary global system clearly has its benefits  Material well-being  Human rights ► Just as clearly, it has heavy costs  Traditional means of sustenance are not available to billions  Jeopardy within the global economy is a serious problem

3. Re-emergence of Slavery ► Because some people are powerless and others are willing to exploit them, a new slavery has emerged  Bonded workers  Trafficking in women and children  Illegal immigrants

4. Slavery Distinctions ► Chattel Slavery  Legal  People held deeds to other people  Slaves were investments, therefore the slave owner had an incentive to keep the slave healthy ► The New Slavery  Illegal  People controlled rather than owned  Slaves are disposable  Continuing supply of desperate people to take advantage of or parents to pay off

5. Examples of Child Slavery ► Boys as soldiers, girls as “wives” ► Bonded workers who never leave the work site ► Sex slaves, mainly but not only girls ► Domestic workers

6. International Labor Organization Convention 182 ► Addresses the worst forms of child labor  Slavery  Sex work  Child soldiers  Dangerous work  Work that prevents the proper development of children

7. International Approach To Eliminating Child Labor ► Problem cannot be overcome with policies that are limited to domestic economies ► Global trade creates income opportunities for people able to exploit the labor of children ► Allowing the worst forms of child labor is unfair competition for legitimate workers ► Only a global attack has a chance of succeeding

8. Culture, Childhood & Child Labor ► In all cultures, children work ► The issue: the types of work and conditions of work ► Clearly in poorer countries, some families need the income of children ► Clearly in poorer countries, some education is a waste of time

9. Cultural Issues ► Who is a child? ► What should a child be allowed (be forced?) to do? ► How much education should be required for all children, and how should it be funded? ► Who decides, and when is it decided, who gets further education?

10. International Protection ► The general instruments  Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, Covenant on Civil & Political Rights ► Child specific instruments  Convention on the Rights of the Child  Convention on Women’s Rights ► ILO instruments  Conventions 138 and 182

11. US Participation in the Elimination Of Child Labor ► Thanks to Iowa’s Senator Harkin, the US in many ways is in the vanguard of the attack on inappropriate child labor ► But … the US has still ratified neither the Convention on the Rights of the Child nor the Convention on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights ► How about the country you are studying?  UICHR’s Child Labor Rights Initiative