Child labor is a reality in spite of all the steps taken by the legal machinery to eliminate it. It prevails and persists as a world phenomenon in spite of child labor laws.
The causes of child labor in the contemporary world are the same as those in U.S. hundred years ago- namely poverty, lack of education and exposure, poor access to education, suppression of workers rights, partial prohibition of child labor and inadequate enforcement of child labor laws.performers not only difficult but impossible. Extensive subcontracting also makes it impossible to identify the use of child labor whether intentional or unintentional.
Even when laws or codes of conduct exist, they are often violated.The Indian constitution categorically states that child labor is a wrong practice, and standards should be set by law to eliminate it. The child labor act of 1986 implemented by the government of India makes child labor illegal in many regions and sets the minimum age of employment at fourteen years.
There are many loop holes in this law in terms of affectivity. First is that it does not make child labor completely illegal and does not meet the guidelines set by ILO concerning the minimum age for employment, which is fifteen years. Moreover the policies which are set to reduce incidences of child labor are difficult to implement and enforce. The government and other agencies responsible for the enforcement of these laws are not doing their job. Without proper enforcement all policies and laws concerning child labor prove useless.
Moreover certain sectors like agriculture and domestic work are not included in the exemption of child labor. In some countries very strict child labor laws exist but the offices and departments responsible for implementing them are under funded and under staffed. The judicial machinery and courts are also found to be faltering and falting where proper enforcement of such laws is concerned. Many state governments are feisty in allocating resources to enforce child labor laws.
There are also many loop holes while setting laws and rules for child labor which allows exploitation. For example in Nepal, the minimum age for a person to go for work is 14 years, but plantation of brick clines is exempted from this.
Kenya prohibits children under 16 from going to work in industries but excludes agriculture. Bangladesh also specifies a minimum age to go to work, but excludes agriculture and domestic work.Indeed laws become unpractical and redundant in the face of necessity. Poor children and their family members depend so much on little ones to provide the basic necessities of life in the impoverished areas that it becomes impossible for them to adhere to any laws and regulations regarding child labor. We must also remember, that about one fifth of the world’s six billion humans live in absolute poverty.
Rules Of I.L.O
It is obligatory for all countries to set a minimum age for employment according to the rules of ILO written in Convention 138(C.138).
The stipulated age for employment should not be below the age for finishing compulsory schooling, that is not below the age of 15
Developing countries are allowed to set the minimum age at 14 years in accordance with their socio- economic circumstances.
C-138 has also made provisions for flexibility for certain countries, setting the minimum age of 12 and 13 for their children – but only for partaking in light work.
Light work can be defined as children’s participation in only those economic activities which do not damage their health and development or interfere with their education.
work that does not obstruct with a child’s education is considered light work and allowed from age 12 under the International Labor Organization (ILO Convention 138)
It is because of this that many children employed in part time work like learning craft or other skills of a hereditary nature are not called child labors. The same work translates into child labor if a child is thrown into weaving carpets, working into factories or some other employment to earn money to sustain self, or augment his family’s income – without being given school education and allowed opportunities for normal social interactions. A child working part time (3-4 hours) to learn and earn for self and parents after school, is not considered ‘child labor’.
Developed countries have reacted sharply to this historical fact by equating “child labor” with human right violation. However poor countries are more accepting about child labor as a living necessity. .
Child Labour Policy in India
There are specific clauses in the draft of Indian constitution dated 26th January 1950, about the child labor policy in India. These are conveyed through different articles in the Fundamental rights and the Directive Principles of the State Policy. They lay down four specific policy rules regarding child labor.
They are as following:-
1) ( Article 14) No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.
2) Article 39-E) The state shall direct its policy towards securing that the health and strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of children are not abused and that they are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to there are and strength.
3) ( Article 39-f ) Children shall be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth shall be protected against moral and material abandonment.
4) (Article 45 ) The state shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of the constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. It was also decided that both the Union government and the State government could legislate on matters concerning child labor. Various legislative initiatives were also taken in this regard at both the State and Union level.
The main legislative measures at the national level are The Child Labor Prohibition and Regulation Act -1986 and The Factories Act -1948. The first act was categorical in prohibiting the employment of children below fourteen years of age, and identified 57 processes and 13 occupations which were considered dangerous to the health and lives of children. The details of these occupations and processes are listed in the schedule to the said Act.
The factories act again prohibits the employment of children less than fourteen years of age. However an adolescent aged between 15 and 18 can be recruited for factory employment only after securing a fitness certificate from a medical doctor who is authorized. The Act proceeds to prescribe only four and and hour’s work period per day for children between 14 and 18 years. Children are also not allowed to work in night shifts.
Moreover, in the year 1996 the Supreme Court of India came out with a judgment in court that directed the State and Union government to make a list of all children embroiled in hazardous occupations and processes. They were then told to pull them out of work and asked to provide them with proper education of quality. The judiciary also laid down that Child Labor and Welfare Fund is set up. The contribution for this was to be received from employers who contravened the Child Labor Act.
India is also a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO Abolition of Forced Convention – No 105 and ILO Forced labor Convention – No. 29. A National Labor Policy was also adopted in the year 1987 in accordance with India’s development strategies and aims. The National Policy was designed to reinforce the directive principles of state policy in the Indian constitution.