| From the comfort of their plush offices and | | | | have a right to survive. You can't just say |
| five to six figure salaries, self-appointed | | | | they can't work, you have to provide |
| NGO's often denounce child labor as their | | | | alternatives."Regrettably, the debate is so |
| employees rush from one five star hotel to | | | | laden with emotions and self-serving |
| another, $3000 subnotebooks and PDA's in | | | | arguments that the facts are often |
| hand. The hairsplitting distinction made by | | | | overlooked.The outcry against soccer balls |
| the ILO between "child work" and "child | | | | stitched by children in Pakistan led to the |
| labor" conveniently targets impoverished | | | | relocation of workshops ran by Nike and |
| countries while letting its budget | | | | Reebok. Thousands lost their jobs, including |
| contributors - the developed ones - | | | | countless women and 7000 of their progeny. |
| off-the-hook.Reports regarding child labor | | | | The average family income - anyhow meager - |
| surface periodically. Children crawling in | | | | fell by 20 percent. Economists Drusilla |
| mines, faces ashen, body deformed. The agile | | | | Brown, Alan Deardorif, and Robert Stern |
| fingers of famished infants weaving soccer | | | | observe wryly:"While Baden Sports can quite |
| balls for their more privileged counterparts | | | | credibly claim that their soccer balls are |
| in the USA. Tiny figures huddled in | | | | not sewn by children, the relocation of their |
| sweatshops, toiling in unspeakable | | | | production facility undoubtedly did nothing |
| conditions. It is all heart-rending and it | | | | for their former child workers and their |
| gave rise to a veritable not-so-cottage | | | | families."Such examples abound. Manufacturers |
| industry of activists, commentators, legal | | | | - fearing legal reprisals and "reputation |
| eagles, scholars, and opportunistically | | | | risks" (naming-and-shaming by overzealous |
| sympathetic politicians.Ask the denizens of | | | | NGO's) - engage in preemptive sacking. German |
| Thailand, sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, or | | | | garment workshops fired 50,000 children in |
| Morocco and they will tell you how they | | | | Bangladesh in 1993 in anticipation of the |
| regard this altruistic hyperactivity - with | | | | American never-legislated Child Labor |
| suspicion and resentment. Underneath the | | | | Deterrence Act.Quoted by Wasserstein, former |
| compelling arguments lurks an agenda of trade | | | | Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, |
| protectionism, they wholeheartedly believe. | | | | notes:"Stopping child labor without doing |
| Stringent - and expensive - labor and | | | | anything else could leave children worse off. |
| environmental provisions in international | | | | If they are working out of necessity, as most |
| treaties may well be a ploy to fend off | | | | are, stopping them could force them into |
| imports based on cheap labor and the | | | | prostitution or other employment with greater |
| competition they wreak on well-ensconced | | | | personal dangers. The most important thing is |
| domestic industries and their political | | | | that they be in school and receive the |
| stooges.This is especially galling since the | | | | education to help them leave |
| sanctimonious West has amassed its wealth on | | | | poverty."Contrary to hype, three quarters of |
| the broken backs of slaves and kids. The 1900 | | | | all children work in agriculture and with |
| census in the USA found that 18 percent of | | | | their families. Less than 1 percent work in |
| all children - almost two million in all - | | | | mining and another 2 percent in construction. |
| were gainfully employed. The Supreme Court | | | | Most of the rest work in retail outlets and |
| ruled unconstitutional laws banning child | | | | services, including "personal services" - a |
| labor as late as 1916. This decision was | | | | euphemism for prostitution. UNICEF and the |
| overturned only in 1941.The GAO published a | | | | ILO are in the throes of establishing school |
| report last week in which it criticized the | | | | networks for child laborers and providing |
| Labor Department for paying insufficient | | | | their parents with alternative employment.But |
| attention to working conditions in | | | | this is a drop in the sea of neglect. Poor |
| manufacturing and mining in the USA, where | | | | countries rarely proffer education on a |
| many children are still employed. The Bureau | | | | regular basis to more than two thirds of |
| of Labor Statistics pegs the number of | | | | their eligible school-age children. This is |
| working children between the ages of 15-17 in | | | | especially true in rural areas where child |
| the USA at 3.7 million. One in 16 of these | | | | labor is a widespread blight. Education - |
| worked in factories and construction. More | | | | especially for women - is considered an |
| than 600 teens died of work-related accidents | | | | unaffordable luxury by many hard-pressed |
| in the last ten years.Child labor - let alone | | | | parents. In many cultures, work is still |
| child prostitution, child soldiers, and child | | | | considered to be indispensable in shaping the |
| slavery - are phenomena best avoided. But | | | | child's morality and strength of character |
| they cannot and should not be tackled in | | | | and in teaching him or her a trade."The |
| isolation. Nor should underage labor be | | | | Economist" elaborates:"In Africa children are |
| subjected to blanket castigation. Working in | | | | generally treated as mini-adults; from an |
| the gold mines or fisheries of the | | | | early age every child will have tasks to |
| Philippines is hardly comparable to waiting | | | | perform in the home, such as sweeping or |
| on tables in a Nigerian or, for that matter, | | | | fetching water. It is also common to see |
| American restaurant.There are gradations and | | | | children working in shops or on the streets. |
| hues of child labor. That children should not | | | | Poor families will often send a child to a |
| be exposed to hazardous conditions, long | | | | richer relation as a housemaid or houseboy, |
| working hours, used as means of payment, | | | | in the hope that he will get an education."A |
| physically punished, or serve as sex slaves | | | | solution recently gaining steam is to provide |
| is commonly agreed. That they should not help | | | | families in poor countries with access to |
| their parents plant and harvest may be more | | | | loans secured by the future earnings of their |
| debatable.As Miriam Wasserman observes in | | | | educated offspring. The idea - first proposed |
| "Eliminating Child Labor", published in the | | | | by Jean-Marie Baland of the University of |
| Federal Bank of Boston's "Regional Review", | | | | Namur and James A. Robinson of the University |
| second quarter of 2000, it depends on "family | | | | of California at Berkeley - has now permeated |
| income, education policy, production | | | | the mainstream.Even the World Bank has |
| technologies, and cultural norms." About a | | | | contributed a few studies, notably, in June, |
| quarter of children under-14 throughout the | | | | "Child Labor: The Role of Income Variability |
| world are regular workers. This statistic | | | | and Access to Credit Across Countries" |
| masks vast disparities between regions like | | | | authored by Rajeev Dehejia of the NBER and |
| Africa (42 percent) and Latin America (17 | | | | Roberta Gatti of the Bank's Development |
| percent).In many impoverished locales, child | | | | Research Group.Abusive child labor is |
| labor is all that stands between the family | | | | abhorrent and should be banned and |
| unit and all-pervasive, life threatening, | | | | eradicated. All other forms should be phased |
| destitution. Child labor declines markedly as | | | | out gradually. Developing countries already |
| income per capita grows. To deprive these | | | | produce millions of unemployable graduates a |
| bread-earners of the opportunity to lift | | | | year - 100,000 in Morocco alone. Unemployment |
| themselves and their families incrementally | | | | is rife and reaches, in certain countries - |
| above malnutrition, disease, and famine - is | | | | such as Macedonia - more than one third of |
| an apex of immoral hypocrisy.Quoted by "The | | | | the workforce. Children at work may be |
| Economist", a representative of the much | | | | harshly treated by their supervisors but at |
| decried Ecuador Banana Growers Association | | | | least they are kept off the far more menacing |
| and Ecuador's Labor Minister, summed up the | | | | streets. Some kids even end up with a skill |
| dilemma neatly: "Just because they are under | | | | and are rendered employable. |
| age doesn't mean we should reject them, they | | | | |