Child Labor

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In many economically depressed countries where child labor exists, there aren’t any welfare systems and easy access to loans. The money for these types of programs isn’t readily available. The shortage of money is due to the fact that there are economic problem within the country. Not all of the places where children work in third world countries are dangerous and dirty. Some major corporations move their businesses to places like Pakistan and China because the people there will work for less. Many times the people who work in these factories are children. Not all of these companies pay just a few cents a day though. Mattel, the maker of Barbie, is one of these corporations. In their factory based in Chagnan, China, workers are paid a $1.81 a day. (Holstein.) The factory they work in is also kept up to higher standards than most factories in China are. It is clean and they are very rarely forced to work in dangerous conditions. I feel children should be allowed to work only if they absolutely need to. The conditions in and hours which they work, as well as the pay they receive need to be improved. Governments need to pass laws that will do this. There have been laws passed that limit and reduce the amounts of child labor. An example of this is the Keating-Owen Act passed in 1916. This law barred articles produced by child labor from interstate commerce. Many organizations are working to improve child labor conditions. They are succeeding in some cases. Free The Children (FTC) is one such organization. FTC was created by Craig Kielburger when he was twelve years old. They petitioned for the Hulbert 4 release of a children’s’ rights advocate, Kailash Satyarthi, from prison. Their petition helped free him. After his release, he led raids on carpet factories that freed some children from bondage labor.

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