Child Labour in Developing Countries

Privatised education can actually push children into hazardous employment. Tanzania had an incredible 96% literacy rate in the late 1970s due to its compulsory education. Now the literacy rate is dropping at 2% because the country is paying twice as much in debts to rich countries as it spends on education. The IMF and World Bank have pressured countries into reduce social spending in their structural adjustment programmes and education necessarily suffers. A case report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), showed almost 50% of children interviewed in a Tanzanian mines were there to save money to pay their school fees. Economic institutions and richer countries need to cancel their debts and stop loans being contingent on reduced social spending to show their commitment to end childrens misery.



HELP! For individual children stipends or micro-credit schemes can help. Free the Children have a simple project helping children stay at school in India by buying cows for women to milk as an alternative income. Educating and mobilising communities on Childrens Rights also prevents exploitation. Supporting Trade Unions can also prevent child labour.



For children in the worst forms of labour, such as bonded labour and prostitution, only immediate removal and rehabilitation is acceptable. For most children a short-term solution would be combining education and work. Perhaps the most obvious answers would be to ensure the fare wages of adults. If this was achieved they could support their children without sending them out to work



Governments promise time and time again to end child labour. But it is time for consumers to take action. As well as buying Fair Trade goods the ILO recommends



1. Lobby your government to ratify and apply ILO Conventions to the letter.

2. Pressure your local authorities to enforce laws on education.

3. Urge your trade union to take up the cause at home, or in solidarity with unions abroad.

4. Urge your employers confederation to start relevant programmes.

5. Join and support national or international non-governmental organizations active in the field.

6. Help create or run educational alternatives for working children.

7. Talk to children and parents to encourage them into alternatives.

8. Urge local, national and international news media to raise awareness about child labour.

9. Distribute IPEC and other anti-child labour documentation.

10. Be an informed consumer and traveller.



Looking for ethical gift companies that dont exploit children?