How does child labor affect children

Child labour | UNICEF

Programme

Nearly 1 in 10 children are subjected to child labour worldwide, with some forced into hazardous work through trafficking.

UNICEF/UN0263808/Lister

Economic hardship exacts a toll on millions of families worldwide – and in some places, it comes at the price of a child’s safety. Roughly 160 million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of 2020, with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19.

This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide. Almost half of them are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health and moral development.

Children may be driven into work for various reasons. Most often, child labour occurs when families face financial challenges or uncertainty – whether due to poverty, sudden illness of a caregiver, or job loss of a primary wage earner.

The consequences are staggering. Child labour can result in extreme bodily and mental harm, and even death. It can lead to slavery and sexual or economic exploitation. And in nearly every case, it cuts children off from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights and threatening their futures.

Migrant and refugee children – many of whom have been uprooted by conflict, disaster or poverty – also risk being forced into work and even trafficked, especially if they are migrating alone or taking irregular routes with their families.

Trafficked children are often subjected to violence, abuse and other human rights violations. And some may be forced to break the law. For girls, the threat of sexual exploitation looms large, while boys may be exploited by armed forces or groups.

Children on the move risk being forced into work or even trafficked – subjected to violence, abuse and other human rights violations.

Whatever the cause, child labour compounds social inequality and discrimination, and robs girls and boys of their childhood. Unlike activities that help children develop, such as contributing to light housework or taking on a job during school holidays, child labour limits access to education and harms a child’s physical, mental and social growth. Especially for girls, the “triple burden” of school, work and household chores heightens their risk of falling behind, making them even more vulnerable to poverty and exclusion.

Key facts

The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19.
Progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years, reversing the previous downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.
The incidence of hazardous work in countries affected by armed conflict is 50% higher than the global average.
30 million children live outside their country of birth, increasing their risk of being trafficked for sexual exploitation and other work.

UNICEF’s response

UNICEF/UNI281125/Herwig Children largely from the ethnic Dom community learn in a UNICEF-supported centre in Jordan, in 2019. With many of their families living in poverty, these children become especially vulnerable to negative coping mechanisms, like working on the street. Centres play a key role in identifying children who face challenges and helping them to enroll in formal and non-formal education.

UNICEF works to prevent and respond to child labour, especially by strengthening the social service workforce. Social service workers play a key role in recognizing, preventing and managing risks that can lead to child labour. Our efforts develop and support the workforce to identify and respond to potential situations of child labour through case management and social protection services, including early identification, registration and interim rehabilitation and referral services.

We also focus on strengthening parenting and community education initiatives to address harmful social norms that perpetuate child labour, while partnering with national and local governments to prevent violence, exploitation and abuse.

With the International Labour Organization (ILO), we help to collect data that make child labour visible to decision makers. These efforts complement our work to strengthen birth registration systems, ensuring that all children possess birth certificates that prove they are under the legal age to work.

Children removed from labour must also be safely returned to school or training. UNICEF supports increased access to quality education and provides comprehensive social services to keep children protected and with their families.

To address child trafficking, we work with United Nations partners and the European Union on initiatives that reach 13 countries across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Resources

Causes and effects of child labor

Definition of Child Labor

Child labor is defined as work that denies children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity. Child labor is mentally, physically, socially, or morally dangerous and harmful to children. It prevents them from attending school; whether by obliging them to leave the school prematurely or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with extremely long and heavy work.

Worst Forms of Child Labour

The worst forms of child labor are being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses, including many other forms such as;

Sale and trafficking of children.
Forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
Abusing children for prostitution.
Using children for illicit activities.
Forcing children for producing and trafficking drugs.

Forced Child Labour

Due to the ongoing conflicts over the years, many children have lost one or both of their parents and became under the sponsorship of strangers or relatives.

Unfortunately, those in charge of those children have forced them into child labor to benefit from whatever these children can offer to them.

Global Estimates of Child Labor

The latest global estimates indicate that the number of children in child labor has increased to 160 million worldwide, an 8.4 million children in the last four years. 63 million girls and 97 million boys were in child labor globally at the beginning of 2020, according to almost 1/10 of all children worldwide.

Child labor — boys in child labor outnumber girls by 34 million. 11.2% of all boys compared to 7.8% of all girls.

Causes of Child Labour

Worldwide, the causes of child labor are basically the same. Wars, armed conflicts, and crises have overstrained communities globally, causing mass migrations, poverty, and many other crises.

Poverty

Poverty is one of the most essential causes of child labor. Children who were born in poverty, for any reason, grow as unskilled workers and find themselves forced to child labor to survive with their families.

Crises

Through the last decade; many crises took place worldwide; Economic crises, natural disasters, armed conflicts in many countries in the world, along with the mass migration caused by it, comes COVID-19 at the top of it all, making millions of people around the world fall victims to all these crises.

And the most vulnerable victims in all those circumstances are the children who found themselves obliged to child labor.

Armed conflicts have affected schools and schooling, leaving no option for children in the conflict regions to attend schools and learn.

Due to those conflicts, millions of families were obliged to leave their homes and move elsewhere, in a form of mass migration worldwide.

As families are struggling for life, all family members found themselves obliged to work in order to have the essential needs of living, having no option but to send their children to work instead of schools.

The lack of funding to sponsor the educational projects supported by organizations puts the educational process in remission in many regions. Going to schools is no longer an option in-hands for millions of children worldwide, especially in conflict regions.

With millions of displaced and poor families, finding a school to enroll their children in has become like a dream.

Effects of Child Labour

Children who fall victim to child labor are suffering major psychological, mental, and physical issues. Forced to deal with massively hard work in many sectors.

Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the most dangerous sectors to work in at any age. It is more dangerous for children. However, nearly 60% of all child laborers work in agriculture, that is 98 million. Children who work in agriculture are working unpaid with their families.

Mining

Mining is one of the worst forms of child labor. Children as young as four worked long hours in mines in dangerous, often fatal conditions. Children who work as miners are forced to use their hands and tools to collect raw material and extract the metal. Therefore, mining can permanently damage a growing child’s bones and muscles.

Construction

Children who are working in construction are forced to deal with all types of construction for long hours causing them a variety of pain; physical, mental, and emotional pain.

construction types like;

Alteration.
Conversion.
Fitting-out.
Commissioning.
Renovation.
Repair.
Maintenance, and refurbishment.
Demolition, decommissioning, or dismantling of a structure.

Domestic Work

Domestic work is one of child labor, where children are sent to houses to do house working, such as; cleaning the house, washing and Ironing clothes, gardening, cooking, and other things. It is usually done by children below the legal work-age, for long hours, although it is considered less harmful than the other types of work. However, little girls cannot be safe serving in strangers’ houses. Unfortunately, sexual abuse is still a strong possibility.

Factory

Working in factories is a severe job., through which children are forced to work for long hours, under a lot of physical and emotional pain, and for a low wage.

The Disadvantage of Child Labour

Child labor has many serious danger and disadvantages on children’s lives; it can lead to extreme physical and mental harm and put children through some severe emotional difficulties, which can lead even to death.

Child labor refrains children from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights and threatening their futures.

Effects of child labour on Society

Victims of child labor usually suffer from depression and anxiety, pushing them to destructive habits like smoking, alcoholism, or drug abuse. Abusive abuse environments also trigger a lifetime of low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties.

Walking over child labor, like it’s nothing, we will be destroying our future communities because those children are part of our community today, as much as tomorrow. So instead of making our society vulnerable with such a generation to lead, let us handle this matter now and prepare these children to participate positively in our community in the future.

What is Child Labour Reform

Many organizations today are taking initiatives to increase educational awareness worldwide. The key to uprooting child labor is to educate those children.

Donations to organizations in charge to help them fund and sponsor the educational projects, and building schools in the conflict regions, can help massively in protecting these children, and empower them by helping them learn and know their rights to help protect themselves as well.

Read More:

Economic Conditions in NW Syria
Living Conditions in NW Syria
Security and Protection in NW Syria

FAQ

What is Meant by Child Labor?

Child labor is defined as work that denies children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity.

What are The Causes of Child Labor?

Poverty, crises, conflicts & mass migration, and lack of access to quality education.

What are The Examples of Child Labor?

An example of child labor examples is domestic work, where children, mostly girls, are sent to houses to do house working, where there is a high chance that young girls will be subjected to physical or sexual abuse, in addition to the physical pain due to working for long hours in the service of the house and its residents.

What are The Problems of Child Labor?

Psychological and physical damage.
Deprivation of education.
Sexual exploitation.
Child marriage.
Begging and gangs that exploit children.

What are the effects of child labour?

The effects of child labour are many. The children who work in factories, mines or farms are often deprived of their childhoods. They are denied an education and forced to work long hours in unsafe conditions for a pittance, often with little or no pay at all

what are 10 causes of child labor?

The 10 causes of child labor is:
1) Poverty – Poverty is one of the most common causes of child labor. Children are often forced to work in order to help their families make ends meet.
2) Unemployment – When parents can’t find work, they often turn to sending their children out to find work instead. This leaves them vulnerable to exploitation by employers who know they will have no choice but to accept any job available.
3) Lack of Education – Children need an education in order to be successful in the future, but many can’t afford it and are forced into child labor instead.

What is child labor?

Child labor is defined as work that denies children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity. Child labor is mentally, physically, socially, or morally dangerous and harmful to children.

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Child labor in Europe: a continuing challenge

Many observers believed that child labor in Europe was a thing of the past. However, there is very strong evidence that child labor is still a significant problem and that it may increase with the advent of the economic crisis. Governments should monitor this situation and use the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the European Social Charter as recommendations for preventive and corrective action.

In times of economic downturn, vulnerable people always suffer more than others. Therefore, the association between a decline in economic growth and an increase in child labor is not surprising. Due to the recession, many European countries have drastically reduced social assistance. And as unemployment rises, many families have found no other solution than to send their children to work.

Harmful and dangerous work

The prevalence of child labor in developing countries is a well-known problem: according to the International Labor Organization, more than 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are currently working. However, when we began to analyze the situation in Europe, we found in my Office that there was very little information on this subject. In fact, it seems that this topic is taboo. However, we were able to gather enough information to paint a rather bleak picture.

According to UNESCO, 29% of children aged 7-14 work in Georgia. In Albania this figure is 19%. The government of the Russian Federation estimates that up to 1 million children work in the country. However, data are not yet available for most other countries. In Italy, a 2013 study shows that 5.2% of children under the age of 16 are employed.

Many of those children who work throughout Europe are engaged in highly hazardous work in agriculture, construction, small businesses or on the street. This is reported, for example, for Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and Montenegro. Working in agriculture can involve dangerous equipment and tools, carrying heavy loads, and using harmful pesticides. And working on the streets leads to the fact that children are harassed and exploited.

In Bulgaria, child labor appears to be very common in the tobacco industry and some children work up to 10 hours a day. According to reports from Moldova, directors of schools, farms and agricultural cooperatives have signed agreements that require students to help with the harvest.

Other countries at risk are those that have been hit hard by austerity measures: Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Portugal. Quite a few children are reported to work long hours in the United Kingdom as well.

Roma children are at particular risk throughout Europe. Another particularly vulnerable group is unaccompanied migrants under the age of 18 coming from developing countries.

What to do

Governments urgently need to focus on child labor issues, investigate, collect data and monitor. Most countries have legislation in place but do not track current practice.
The guiding principle should be the best interests of the child, as provided for in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the standards of the European Social Charter.
Authorities should carefully assess the potential impact on child labor of budget cuts in education and training.
They should also analyze the impact on child labor due to cuts in social services and family support: the main reason why children are forced to work is poverty.
Labor inspection institutions should be able to carry out their work properly.
States must actively combat the sale of children for forced labor and exploitation. Those seven member states of the Council of Europe that have not yet ratified the Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings should do so, and all member states should cooperate with the GRETA monitoring group.

What will be the future of these children?

I am deeply concerned that so little attention has been paid to the risks of child labor in Europe. In most countries, officials are aware of this problem, but few are willing to deal with it. The very fact that data and figures are almost non-existent or very approximate is in itself a source of concern. It is impossible to fight a problem without knowing its extent, nature and consequences.

Of particular concern is that the need to work interferes with children's schooling: this quickly begins to affect their academic performance and many of them eventually leave school. And this only reproduces the vicious circle of poverty. A country can develop only when it chooses education for children, not work.

Many concrete measures need to be taken. Last year we saw one of these actions taken in Turkey, where the government passed a law that raises the compulsory education age to 17 in order to minimize the risk of labor exploitation. We need more initiatives like this.

When the problem of child labor is not addressed, it only jeopardizes the future of these children. This raises the question of what our societies will look like in the future when these children grow up without the opportunity to play and learn at school, and instead are exposed to various health risks from a very young age. We must act now for the future of these children and our own societies.

Nils Muizhnieks

Labor education of preschool children (Garifullina F. F.)

Labor education of preschool children

Labor education is an important means of comprehensive development of the personality of a preschooler. Of course, the labor activity of young children is peculiar. It does not always lead to material results. The main purpose of labor is its educational influence on the personality of the child.

Labor activity (especially at its early stages) is not very stable, it is closely connected with children's games. The connection between work and play is important at preschool age - play images help children to do work with great interest. But it would be wrong in all cases to turn work into a game.

Reasonably organized work strengthens the physical strength and health of the child. Movements become more confident and precise. Acting, the baby is better oriented in space.

Labor has a significant impact on the mental development of the child. It requires intelligence, initiative, active perception, observation, attention, concentration, trains memory. Labor develops thinking - the child has to compare, contrast the objects and phenomena with which he is dealing. Here he takes care of the plants - here it is important to notice their growth, to establish the dependence of this growth on how the child waters, loosens the soil.

In outlining a certain sequence of actions, the child joins the simplest forms of planning activity. In the process of labor, adults give children useful knowledge about the objects, materials and tools of labor, their purpose and use.

The role of labor activity in moral education is especially important. Stability of behavior, discipline, independence are brought up in labor, initiative is developed, the ability to overcome difficulties, the desire to do a good job. Work unites children, in joint work the initial collectivistic skills are formed - the ability to work together and together, to help each other in work.

According to the content, child labor can be divided into several types:

- household work: self-service, caring for the premises and things, helping adults in cooking;

- labor "in nature": growing indoor plants, sowing and planting in a flower garden, in a vegetable garden, in a garden, caring for pets;

- manual labor (with design elements): making toys and simple manuals from paper, cardboard, natural materials, woodworking.

The child grows, and as he grows, work may become more difficult; the range of tasks that are solved by labor education may become wider.

Children under four years of age are characterized by elementary household work - self-service, mainly associated with the satisfaction of their personal needs.

In the middle and older preschool age, the physical capabilities of children expand, the strength and dexterity of movements increase, and the awareness of the social significance of labor increases. The main place is already given to the household work of the whole family (and in kindergarten - for the team of the group), labor in nature, manual labor is introduced.

It is possible to educate in children the ability and desire to work, observing some important pedagogical requirements.

Let parents deeply realize that their conscientious attitude to their own labor duties, their respect for the work of others, have a great influence on their children. A cheerful working atmosphere, the constant influence of the example of adults is an important incentive for the child. Seeing how the elders work, he will gladly take part in cleaning the premises, in washing, cooking, in various works in the garden, in the garden.

It is necessary to create conditions for child labor. In the daily routine, allocate special time for labor activities, make sure that children have equipment that matches their strengths and capabilities (shovels, rakes, watering cans and other equipment - for labor in nature; hammers, tongs, scissors - for manual labor) .

Do not forget about proper hygienic conditions: ventilate the room well, see if the child’s workplace is properly lit, whether it is comfortable for him.

Only then will children fall in love with labor if it is accompanied by an optimistic mood, if both the labor process itself and its results are pleasing. This largely depends on the ability of parents to encourage the child in time, to help if he is experiencing difficulties, to offer to try again if it is clear that the child has not made the necessary efforts.

In kindergarten, children work together. Try to create conditions at home for the joint work of several children. In common work, friendly ties between children grow stronger, a desire arises to help each other; it is easier to prevent the development of such negative qualities as boasting, laziness, selfishness.

Labor develops initial feelings of duty, responsibility, vital skills and abilities (which is very important for preparing a child for school!).

When children realize their duties, when they gain practical experience, the necessary labor skills, this creates in them self-confidence, a willingness to work. This is usually clearly observed in children by the end of the fifth year of life, and becomes a stable feature in older preschool age. Children are already able to organize their own labor activities, to help the younger ones.

Children experience a special pleasure when they, as equals, are attracted to work. “My mother and I made pies. Mom made circles, and I put on the filling,” says a six-year-old girl. “My dad and I fixed the door, I gave carnations to dad, and he nailed it where it was needed,” the five-year-old boy proudly says.

The children are pleased with the trust of their elders, they are proud when they are entrusted with real tasks at home, the fulfillment of which is a well-known contribution of the child to the numerous daily activities of the family. When a baby is included in these daily activities, it changes his position among adults - he has his own affairs and responsibilities, he is responsible for them. Children are pleased with the encouragement of adults; a fair, benevolent assessment creates a sense of confidence in them, a desire to earn an even higher assessment.

The early inclusion of children in the family in feasible work makes the life of the child more complete, interesting. The child acquires many valuable qualities, becomes independent, less dependent on adults, learns useful practical skills, learns to value time, re-evaluates the work of the adults around him, and learns to see his participation in this work.

But adults should keep in mind that everyday life gives child labor an everyday character. It is one thing to fulfill an order for the first time: for the first time a child of six years old was asked to buy bread - the order was completed with readiness, the child grew up in his own eyes. But when this duty must be fulfilled every day, the joy gradually fades away, the desire to go for bread every day may disappear. We will have to find additional incentives so that this or that duty does not become burdensome for the child. Sometimes a mother, setting the table for dinner, will say: “What appetizing, soft bread Alyosha bought today.” Another time, he will give a more difficult task: to buy not only bread, but also high-calorie buns that dad loves so much. And at evening tea, the father will express pleasure at the sight of these buns and will be even more delighted to learn that it was the son who went to the bakery.

Children love preparing for the holidays. You start the holiday cleaning of the apartment - consider the possible participation of the child in it. Children 3-4 years old can wipe their cubes, a shelf for toys with a damp cloth, carefully place their toys on it, help their mother wipe the leaves of plants, and wash saucers. Older children can be entrusted with more complex tasks: clean up the buffet, carefully arrange the linen on the shelves of the closet, while making sure that the bed linen is not mixed with clothes....

If you are going to do laundry, the children will also find something to do. It is necessary, after all, that the dolls also have a holiday, that their clothes and bed are clean. In a small basin, all this can be washed, rinsed, blued something, starched something, and then hung up to dry with mom. And when everything dries, something the children themselves will be able to stroke.

It is very important that in these pre-holiday chores everyone has something to do: both dad and older brother. They have their own responsibilities. It is necessary to fix faulty toys, put clothes in order, take something to the dry cleaners. Something needs to be taken out into the yard and ventilated.

In doing all these things, it is important for all family members to be an example. Do not complain about fatigue, talk about unwillingness to do something. Let the child see the activity of everyone, their dexterity, the ability to do everything with readiness.

Such family traditions, in which the child early becomes a participant in common labor, give significantly higher educational results than others, when the child, waking up in the morning, sees a transformed apartment - there was a mess, and now, as if by magic, everything has changed, everything is clean. Such a "surprise", of course, will delight the child. But since he was not a participant in the common labor, he cannot evaluate the labor invested, and in general he will not learn to appreciate it for a long time.

At the older preschool age, children can already take care of another, and in this they should be encouraged. Let these concerns be still very simple, but the fact that they are aimed at the benefit of another, and not at oneself, is of paramount importance for the development of the child's personality.

Some children of 6-7 years old in the family do many chores around the house, really help adults. But there are families in which the child does not find things to do and he only helps his mother clean up his own toys.

The labor participation of children in household chores is especially great in those families where there are several children, where the older preschooler has a younger brother or sister. The circle of daily activities of a child in such a family is diverse, he sees that he can really help his mother by caring for the little one.

Here is how the children themselves tell about it: “I dress my sister, I walk with her”; "My brother's face and hands"; “My younger brother and I play together, draw, look at pictures, I tell him everything”; “I go for a walk with Lyalya”; “My sister and I play, I drive her in a stroller, sing songs to her, tell fairy tales”; “I look after my brother, give him some water to drink, help my mother bathe him when my father is at work.”

Note that in this case it is easier for the child to feel great, patronage in relation to the younger elevates him in his own eyes.

The circle of affairs that adults entrust to preschool children to care for the little ones is gradually becoming familiar. But it should be remembered that children want to play with their peers, they have their own interests, their own intellectual needs, which must be satisfied in the process of communicating with elders and peers, in joint games, observations, and activities. As soon as these childhood needs begin to be infringed upon, caring for the little ones becomes a burdensome duty for preschoolers and sometimes leads to a change in the attitude of older preschoolers towards their younger sisters and brothers.

Children's concerns about other people, no matter what they may be expressed, already testify to a deep understanding of the need for help, the need to adapt one's behavior to the conditions of family life, to find one's place in the general affairs of the family. “I take care of my dad, he is sick with us. Lyudochka and I try not to make noise, not to run around the apartment so that my dad gets better soon, ”says the boy. “I help my mother bring heavy things,” says Zhenya (6 years old, 2 months old). And here is the eternal help of a small person to an older one: “I help my grandmother to thread a needle.”

Children take care of animals, plants: “I feed the rabbit”, “I take my dog for a walk”, “I water the flowers”, “I feed the hamsters”.