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I think the prevalence of child labour is because of many complex difficult situations that children, especially from poor countries find themselves in. Poverty forces children out of their homes and oftentimes, out of school and into work. Opportunistic employers are only happy to utilize the cheap and easy to use labour. In poor countries, parents have to decide between getting their children educated or them contributing to the family income. Obviously, the latter is often chosen. Clearly, the issue of child labour is not as clear-cut as it seems to be, it is part of the complex, vicious system of poverty, a system that should be tackled at its very roots, its roots being when it is most prevalent - amongst the families. Tackling poverty at family level is a sure way to reduce it, and eradicate such ills as child labour. Issues such as child labour are just but results of poverty. “Don’t tackle the result; tackle the cause of the result.”
Knowing that some of the food we consume is produced using child labour, knowing that children are contributing to their family incomes, paying child labour fairly, making children work in shifts between school and work or improving working conditions of child labour just does not make the problem any better. Such mentalities are deceitful and simply smokescreen poverty. Solving the roots of the problem and not the results is the best way to move forward.
Children are not meant to work. They are supposed to grow, get educated, become adults and then properly move into the working world. Those who exploit the vulnerability, deprivation and immaturity of the world’s children have no place in our society. They certainly have no respect whatsoever of the future generations and deserve to be sternly condoned by the law and such immorality brought to a halt.
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Writer Profile
Mhlalisi
I’m a young man from Zimbabwe who cares about what is happening in the world and is committed to working to overcome poverty as well as the social, political and economic injustices that exist amongst many of our societies. Currently, I am working with an NGO called the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) in one of its departments which is focused on education, youth and health matters - ORAP-Zimele Institute. I am inspired and driven by a strong passion to eradicate poverty and make the world a better place for everyone as I know what poverty is and what it is like to be deprived of the basic needs in life and have no one to help lift you up, as all it takes is to walk out into the streets of my neighborhood with an analytical mind to see the poverty for yourself. I believe that in order to bring this poverty to a halt we need to nip it at its bud, its bud being where it is most prevalent, that is, at the family level. I feel that development is not at all about the big extravagant organisations who pour exorbitant amounts of money into what they call development efforts, but development is about working closely with small groups of families at a time and developing the individual being as well, as poverty comes in various different forms – social, psychological, material, cultural, etcetera all of which require personal contact and attention with the intended beneficiary in order to conquer fully. That is why I have more faith in small community organisations that work directly with people and also think that it is necessary for everyone to be knowledgeable about development issues and be part of the process and not just leave all the work to a few organisations. I fully support organisations like UNICEF’s Voices of Youth, TakingITGlobal etcetera, who are working hard to disseminate information to people so that everyone can be part of the development process. Besides my work, which I do on a voluntary basis, I enjoy writing, reading and traveling.
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Comments
a mere consequence Wilson | Jul 13th, 2007
it is sad to see that children are at the front of the impacts of poverty
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