Ethical Issues In Child Labour Essay

Before going to into the topic of ethical issues in child labour and debating on the same, we must first and foremost understand, ‘ What Child labour is ?’ . The international labour organization also known as ILO defined the term “Child Labour “ as work that deprives children of their childhood , their potential and their dignity , and that is harmful to physical and mental development . Around the world about 168 million children are involved in child labour with Asia pacific having the largest numbers. Agriculture remains by far the most important sector where child labour can be found ( 59 %) , but the problems are not negligible in services and industry – mostly in the informal economy .India is home to one of the largest numbers …show more content…
Poverty and lack of social security are the main causes of child labour. The increasing gap between the rich and the poor, privatization of basic services and the neo-liberal economic policies are causes major sections of the population out of employment and without basic needs. This adversely affects children more than any other group. Entry of multi-national corporations into industry without proper mechanisms to hold them accountable has lead to the use of child labour. Lack of quality universal education has also contributed to children dropping out of school and entering the labour force. This has further fuelled many questionable and un-ethical practices. Companies caught in these scams have repeatedly said the same thing “we shall remove child labour or at least see to it that the children are provided with all the standard basics with fair wages ‘. Though child labour has reduced drastically it also has a negative impact. Critics argue the decision to hire the child is ethical, but the judgment to fire him is unethical. In many circumstances, families rely on child labor, so that the family can