Why Fair trade?

Globally the majority of child labourers come from the poorer sections of society. Social exclusion and discrimination, a result of poverty and ethnic and gender biases, are important factors that keep children out of school and force them to work. Ending poverty and increasing access to education are therefore crucial tools in the fight against ending child labour.

Children who work are subsequently subject to abuse, both physical and sexual, from their employers and often work under conditions that are both unhealthy and potentially fatal. This scenario cannot continue.

Why we should care?

“Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.” – Walt Disney

Because of their unique and vulnerable position, children are denied the basic working rights and wages given to adults.

Children are most often employed in the informal and unregulated sectors of the global economy, for example in agriculture, and as a result they find themselves easy targets for abuse, intimidation and sexual exploitation.

Improving access to education and attacking poverty head-on would go a long way to solving the challenges children face. We must help them in their struggle. Child labour is an issue that is closely connected with poverty, education, the distribution of world resources, socio-economic structures and gender/fertility related issues.

Defining child labour

Though definitions vary, child labour means work that is done by children under the age of 15 (14 in some developing countries) which restricts or damages a child’s physical, emotional, intellectual, social and/or spiritual growth.

Sometimes, work does not harm children. Work may even help them to learn new skills or to develop a sense of responsibility.

Most people agree that when we speak about child labour, we mean labour which is intolerable or harmful to children, or which denies them their right to fully develop, to play or to go to school.

Child labour includes:

• Work performed by children under the age of 15
• Long hours of work on a regular or full-time basis
• Abusive treatment by the employer
• No access, or poor access, to education

Take time to watch this 45 minute film, it will shock you

• Globally, 218 million children are child labourers¹
• 126 million of these children are engaged in hazardous work²
• 73 million working children are less than 10 years old³
• Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents⁴
• The largest number of working children-122 million-are in the Asia-Pacific region⁵

• The highest proportion of working children is in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of the children aged 14 and under (48 million children) are in the labour force⁶
• 8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities⁷

The number of children involved in armed conflicts has increased to about 300,000 over the past decade.⁸

Between 40 and 50 per cent of all forced labourers are chidren⁹
• 1.2 million of these children have been trafficked (bought and/or sold)¹⁰
Where do children work?¹¹
• Nearly 70% are in agriculture (rural children, especially girls, usually start working in this industry when they are very young, often between 5 and 7 years of age)
• 22% are in services, including wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, transport, personal services, etc
• 9% are in industry, including mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction