Karen Blair – 44 years old, Company Director at Burton Consultants In your opinion, what is child labour? Child labour is when children are forced to do work that is bad for them in some way. What countries practice child labour? Most of the places where I have heard about child labour still being practised are developing countries or countries where there is a really significant gap between rich and poor, for example: India, Bangladesh, China. I expect it may be illegal in those countries but perhaps no one does much about it. I doubt that child labour is limited to such countries though. I would class people making their children work in family businesses as child labour if it means that those children are being disadvantaged by not having enough time for their education, or their social development or if they are constantly tired from late nights caused by having to do school work late at night. In the past child labour has been a big issue in western countries such as Britain, and through Europe. In those countries it’s now against the law, so it should be the exception rather than the rule. How do you feel about the current situation on child labour? Any exploitation of children is appalling. This form has a whole lot of indirect effects, for example on health, education, social and family values and the economy, which should concern the global community and not just individuals or local areas where it is practiced. If you could change the practice of child labour how would you? I think that it should be universally defined, legislated against and enforced. Poppa – 80 years old, retired In your opinion, what is child labour? The exploitation of children in a work situation. What countries practice child labour? Quite a few of them… including China, lots of South American countries, South Korea, the Philippines… How do you feel about the current situation on child labour? Well, it’s a manifestation of the general trend of international capitalism to get things done in the cheapest way possible. If you could change the practice of child labour how would you? You would have to persuade the Countries to introduce laws against it, and that would be very difficult because most of them use child labour because they are really poor and child labour is supposedly cheap. And then we would have to support those Countries by making sure we didnt buy the products that were made by child labour. So we would need to know what was made by child labour, so we could boycott buying it. Mark Leggett, 47 years old, Planning Practise Manager at Auckland Council In your perspective, what is child labour? On the face of it, it might just describe situations where children work. It also seems to mean something negative. In other words, situations where children are forced to work for little or no pay, and miss out on play and school as a result. What countries practice child labour? In most poorer countries there would be child labour e.g. African nations, India, Cambodia, Pakistan. If you could change the practice of child labour how would you? What I particularly don’t like is the idea that some of the things we buy in a rich country like New Zealand might be cheap because they are made by children in poor countries who are paid little or nothing. But it’s really hard to know when you are shopping whether what you are buying is ‘Child Labour’ free or not. There should be a ‘Fair Trade’ type label for things like clothing, which companies are only allowed to use when they have been properly audited. How do you feel about the current situation on child labour? If we’re talking about the negative idea of child labour, then of course I don’t like it. But usually it seems to be part of a broader picture of poverty in poor communities, where family incomes and opportunities for education are also limited. Kiah Mummery, 17 years old, School Student In your perspective, what is child labour? Children being sent to work before they have got a good education. What countries practise child labour? I don’t really know. Africa? Indonesian countries, maybe? How do you feel about the current situation on child labour? I think it’s wrong and kids shouldn’t be put through that before they are grown up. If you could change the practise of child labour how would you? It should be illegal. They should have protests in all the countries that have it, to get out the message that it is wrong and that it shouldn’t be happening.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 07:52:28 +0000
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