Child Labor Internationally
Safety and Wage
Some of these children work in mines or just construction labor. Children as young as 10 can be expected to start construction. A 10-year-old just does not have the capacity to work with that type of equipment and frequently end up injured or killed due to not having adequate treatments available.
Many of these children are not being payed at all just given some place to stay or some food to bring back home IF they are lucky enough to go live with their family.
These ''employers'' are already neglecting the law by hiring children to work and are much more likley to neglect safety laws and workers rights laws aswell.
Laws and Prevention
Since there are laws against the exploitation of children a lot of these factories just move to more rural areas and hire children there. some even bring workers with them and provide housing (awful housing) for their workers. (example being that factory residential building in China that caught fire during COVID. [unfortunately, I couldn't find an article or its name])
Alot of families hide that their children are working as they need everyone to help provide for the family to be able to survive.
Although yes in some nations there are laws which prevent children from working; there is next to no reinforcement of those laws and the practice has been around for long enough that those benefiting do not want to pay real workers a real wage.
What kind of work do children in child labor do?
some of these children work on the street selling contraband as they live in such poverty and in conditions where they are left no choice but to abandon their education and work at such a young age
A lot of these children are working in conditions that are beyond their physical capabilities and they're being forced to take risks and do work that the youth shouldn't.
The practice of child labor in China is fairly common so children will work in practically any type of labor job. Most commonly they work in factories, sweatshops, and farms.
Subtopic
Prevention and Education
When these children are working in these sweat shops they are left no choice but to leave school. They are occupied by working for too many hours of the day to maintain their education.
Since they are not receiving any forms of education they are being deprived of the opportunity to expand and get a better job and make higher wages.
These children work awful wages and have no form of education. They live in worse poverty than paycheck to paycheck. Leaving them and their families trapped into a cycle of poverty which cannot be broken without some level of education being obtained.
These children are also being physically and mentally drained to the point where even if they wanted to they would be too exhausted to keep up with standard level education.
There are many organizations worldwide that all host meetings with governments and try to help these countries adopt laws and/or enforce these laws. They fight for worker's conditions and try to influence using the law. There is even a day called World Against Child Labor Day (June 12th). They fight so there are not this many children being exploited.
Who Profits?
Any consumer. Example: (Anyone who has purchased an H&M shirt for 8.99$ has benefited from the enslavement of these workers). The consumer benefits by paying a lower price for something that otherwise would cost more.
Middlemen. There are people who are paid to recruit the poorest and most desperate children to work. Trying to find the children who will work for the lowest cost possible to ensure they can help their impoverished families.
Employers and company/ factory owners. They are getting HARD LABOR and work done for practically nothing to a few cents per day
How many Children are considered Underage Workers
Currently, an estimated 168 Million children globally work as Underage Workers. Many of them never go to school or drop out at a very young age to work.
Ethiopia 5-6 Million
Nigeria - 15 Million
According to International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as a group of the brown/desi nations make up over 15 Million children
