The Issue
Where do our soccer balls come from?
As part of my job I get the chance to go into classrooms and make children aware of some of the things that are going on around our world. One such topic that I have been focussing on lately is the issue of child labour. The general response from kids has been ‘how can this happen?’ It is really hard for the children to comprehend HOW children their age can be forced to work for 10-12 hours a day (or more), for very little pay, instead of going to school. They are universally outraged.
Some Stats and definitions (from World Visions ‘Get Connected’ magazine.)
“Child labour is any work done by a child that is dangerous, keeps them from getting an education, or is harmful to their health or development.”
The International Labour Organisation estimates 218 million children in the world today are involved in child labour. That is one in every six children in the world.
The most common industries employing child labourers are farms, mines, factories (in particular textile and sports equipment), homes and shops.
The greatest number of child labourers is found in Asia, with 122 million children involved right on Australia’s doorstep!
Child soldiers also fall under the ‘child labour’ category.
Every year 22,000 children around the world die in work-related accidents.
A Christian Response?
The question I have been asking myself is, what is a Christian response to Child Labour? When talking about justice, mercy and peace, what role can we take in helping eradicate child labour? Most child labour occurs in countries living in extreme poverty, so obviously the work people are doing in fixing this is making a big difference, but a key area that we can all make a difference in is our shopping habits. Now, this is a ‘touchy’ area, so I’m not about to state ‘this is what we must do’, because it wouldn’t achieve anything and wouldn’t be the right thing to do. What I do want to talk a bit about though is the topic ofFair Trade.
What is Fair Trade and how does it help?
According to the Fair Trade Association of Aus and NZ,
“Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transperancy and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalised producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair Trade organisations (backed by consumers) are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional, international trade.”
Fair trade helps by spreading the money earnt by selling an item evenly across all people involved. Take a soccer ball for example. When you purchase a soccer ball, the money you pay gets spready across an importor, factory, contractor, maker(usually a child), exporter and a retailer. That’s a lot of steps! Fair trade ensures that each person along that chain gets ‘fair’ compensation for their work.
Clothes are another major item we use in the western world where the maker (once again often children) receives as little as 1% (or less) of the final price paid.
Recently a friend of mine returned from a trip overseas, boasting to me how they were able to purchase 4 Soccer jumpers for $10! They look exactly like the ones you buy in Australia for $80. Rather than be impressed, I was sad, because there is only one way somebody could sell a shirt for $2.50 and still make a profit.
I will close this post here, with more to say at a later date. But I will leave it with a question. What are you wearing? Are you wearing the sweat and tears of a child (and before you ask, sadly I have to say I probably am, given 90% of what I am wearing I bought from Target). What role do you think Christians should play in advocating for Fair Trade?
I think it’s an area many Christian are ignorant about. The question is: if we were better informed, would we change our shopping habits? Or would the four soccer jumpers for $10 prove too much of a temptation?
Are there any websites that list clothing companies that don’t support child labour?
I’m glad you asked that Sarah! There are, surprisingly, quite a few. I’m hoping to do a post in a day or 2, listing a heap of really good fair trade websites. So not wanting to cut into that TOO much, a reallt good clothes website is http://www.fullystoked.com/
Also oxfam is really good at supporting fair trade and knowing where to get fair trade goods.
sup i think child labour sucks and it should be stopped because no lil kid should live their lives like that!!
Not that I’m totally impressed, but this is a lot more than I expected for when I stumpled upon a link on Digg telling that the info here is awesome. Thanks.
one thing we do not take into account when we read these stories of child labor that when we force the companies to fire these kids and hire adults these kids do not go to school. they still need the money. so they go to worse jobs where we cannot see them and where we cannot boycot them.
yes it is easy to say i do not want to buy stuff from a company that uses child labor but it is worse for those kids to get fired. because they still need the money and they will work for it. some become slaves others go to much worse factories they do not go to school.
we do something with good intentions but the outcome is worse for them.
please consider this before you start talking about how bad child labor is and we should punish them. i believe we should let them use child labor therefore we can monitor them and see that they comply with the rules and do not work the child to death, let them go to school. regulating or creating incentives for the companies is much better for the kids than saying do not have child workers. because untill we force them out these kids are the lucky ones
The children work so that they can support their families.
All members work so that they can have enough to survive.
Without this source of income, they may not be able to live.
They miss their chance at having a childhood and at education.
By working, children are forced out of school to go to work and miss a chance at socializing as well.
In a poorer society, children virtually have no choice but to work.
Children must work in order to feed their families and themselves.
Their parents do not have the privilege of earning enough money to survive, because their countries suffer from economic depression.
To these children, survival is more important than education.
They sacrifice their education to help out their families.
There is not much to be done until their economy picks up and improves.
The work maybe unwanted, but it is mandatory for survival.
The parents should be taking care of their children enough so the children do not have to work.
Children should be free to do what they will until adulthood, when they fend for themselves.
They should not be forced to take on a mature role at such a young age.
The child workers live in much poorer countries that do not have the same standard of living as we do, and have different focus points.
To us , children should not be responsible to their families, but in these children’s situations they must be, because they live in a harsher environment than ours.
People usually don’t really care about the situation that these kids are in like how the people have to sacrifice this childhood for there food, shelter, clothing and water.
The children get paid only around 25 cents per week or maybe even lesser.
This started of when Canadian families were to poor to provide themselves any food or other resources, so the sent there kids to go of and work to receive money so they can provide themselves at least to live.
Children were punished for playing instead of working so the never got to play and they were punished by getting beaten up.
Some specific Factories accepted children under 15 to work in there factories so they pay them less and so they can punish them if they do something wrong, if an adult does something wrong they cant beat them because they might fight back, and also they don’t complain as much.
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