Child Labor in a Global World Market

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the issues and age limits for employing child labor and highlights the situation in many third world countries. The paper also notes that American manufacturers have not advocated on behalf of the children being exploited, to help bring about changes that improve the lot of the children in foreign markets. The paper discusses the issues involved and concludes that, while there are no easy solutions to the problem, a world-wide social conscience by which to guide industry and consumers in advocating on behalf of the exploited children, is progress that could be meaningful to the future generations of children in these countries.


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From the Paper:

"There is a gap that must be closed between the reality of child labor and the laws that govern the exploitation of children for purposes of labor in underdeveloped nations, and between the western perception of child labor and exploitation. The existing gap is one that has to be closed by acknowledging that it would not be a good idea to attempt to initiate a radical change in the child labor practices in third world countries. It must be acknowledge that child labor, at this point in the development of third world nations, is essential to the survival of the family unit. Also, that there will in fact be at least the current generation of children and perhaps one or two following generations of children that will not be well educated, or even educated at all, as a result of their exploitation for labor. However, it should be realized, too, that preventing them from working would not necessarily mean that these children would otherwise be educated. That is the first part of the gap that must be closed in the western perception."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Basu, Kaushik, 1999, International Labor Standards and Child Labor, Vol. 42, p. 80.
• The Washington Times, June 23, 1996, p. 2.
• Tierney, John, Jr., 2000, The World of Child Labor: America's Checkered Past, World and I, Vol. 15, p. 54.

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