The awarding of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize to child labour activist and ardent campaigner Kailash Satyarthi has cast the international spotlight on the horrific and near-slavery conditions that are imposed on children in immoral and unconscionable enterprises globally. While Satyarthi has campaigned tirelessly against the practise in India, it’s a criminal and illegal practice that flourished in mines in South America, factories in China, sweat-shop clothing manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, football-stitching workshops in Pakistan, or down any alley or backstreet where tradesmen, businessmen or shop owners can make a quick buck at the expense of the small, young hands toiling in their midst. Added to child labour, the disgusting and inhumane practice of child trafficking adds to the misery of the young, their desperate families, the destitute and those who deliberately sacrifice children for profit.
Yes, there are international conventions that condemn the practice. And yes there are a slew of international groups, unions, quasi-governmental organisations that try and stem the practice. And there are campaigners who ceaselessly bring the issue to the attention of the rest of the world. But there are always businessmen — either running larger companies who willingly buy from producers that use child labour or directly use child labour themselves — who are ready to profit. And there are always families that are forced, through the oppression of extreme poverty, to sell children into trades — or are forced to make their offspring work for the meagre earnings that make a difference between survival or not.
There may be laws in place but until such a time as officials act, ignore the bribes and brown envelopes slipped their way to turn a blind eye to what goes on, these laws are not worth the paper they are written on. The figures are staggering — in India alone, 80 million children are estimated to be working illegally, while government figures themselves say that only five million are at work. One child working illegally is one child too many. And until shoppers reject products and services made by children, the practice will thrive.
