Child Labor in Africa – Turning Innocent Smiles to Exploited Frowns
World is changing, progressing and developing continuously and globalization has made the world more interdependent, interrelated and interactive. But is this progress worth the efforts that people are putting in as the future is dim and unclear. Today’s children are this world’s future. But with the rising exploitation of the children in different ways, the chances of the world’s progress in future are meager. The children today are facing a high risk of getting exploited and one of the prime ways of this exploitation is child labor.
The international Labor Organization revealed that in the world around 246 million children, that is one in every six children, are working and majority of them are in dangerous jobs. Out of this, around 80 million children are estimated to be child labors across Africa which makes Africa as the continent having highest incidence of child labor. The situation is particularly serious in Eastern and Southern Africa where 36% of children of children in the age group of 5 and 14 are involved in some kind of work. Though this is a regional average, it hides the hideous truth of the wide difference between the countries. As per a UNICEF study in 2010, 53% of children in Ethiopia, 49% in Somalia, 41% in Zambia, 35% in Rwanda are involved in child labor. The contrast is that, in the same region of Africa, there is only 9% of child labor in Botswana and Swaziland. International Labor Organization estimates that the number of child labors in Africa would cross 100 million due to the demographic explosion and deteriorating socio-economic situation.
It is not surprising that poverty is seen as the main cause of child labor in Africa as Africa is the poorest region with the weakest system of schools. The famine, orphan hood associated with war and rise of HIV/AIDS has further contributed to increase incidence of child labor. Children work because their family cannot afford to provide them with the basic food and education. The impoverished family needs the child’s income for their survival. The majority of working children are engaged in agriculture or family run farms. The percentage of girls working as child slaves is higher and they are made to work as domestic slaves. But the worst forms of child labor include slavery and forced labor, criminal activities, employment in drug trade, prostitution and other occupations that pose threat to the health and life of children. Trafficking of children is the greatest concern of these times as it is found that trafficked children are put to work on plantations, in petty trades, begging, soliciting and commercial sexual exploitation. The study revealed that the trafficked children were not only made to operate dangerous machines but also work 10 to 20 hours a day carrying heavy. AIDS is killing the bread winners and has driving more and more families in economic disparity it has placed a greater burden on the survivors – the children.
Child Labor is a violation of the rights of the child and has substantial negative impacts on the education, health and the moral well being of the child. These effects tend to continue from one generation to another and reduce the economic, social and personal mobility.
Poverty, submission to forced labor, trafficking, demand for cheap labor, inadequate educational facilities and opportunities are cited as reasons of child trafficking. But these have also become the consequences of the same. Government in Africa, local, national and international organizations are trying endlessly to break this vicious circle. But till the people of Africa do not feel the need for a change, any efforts on the part of the government and organizations will not make a bigger difference.
It is always easy to point out the reasons, but the difference can be made only when steps for improvement are taken.
