Causes of child labour
Hello Everyone,
Has anyone bought items from a Child hawker before? Well I have, and sometimes I do just to get the child off the street at night. A personal experience I had was of a child who was out as late as 8-9pm local time in my country, just waiting to sell the last bunch of banana. Probably, that child may have been asked not to come home until each bunch is sold out.
My point is that the major reason parents will have their children out late at night hawking is poverty, well there are other causes, such as ignorance, traditional beliefs and practices, like other colleagues have stated, but Poverty is responsible for majority of the cases.
Shining star an all,
I just want to throw the spanner to the work hoping that my boss Victor will not delete this post since I believe that this is a valid question; can child labour be justifiable in any circumstances? I take your example of that little child selling out bananas and your action to buy from the child knowing very well that you are advancing child labour- the advocate you are, regardless.
Look at this scenario, a child is orphaned and is at the age of 17 and has two siblings who have nobody else to look upto; of course we know that our respective societies can be very cruel to orphans. This young teenager mobilises little resources to start a hawking business where he manages a meal for his siblings...... of course this is child labour but with a different circumstance. Would we frown at this or congratulate it as innovation when we look at the contribution of this child in securing a future for his siblings? Or is child labour evil. period!
Dear Shining Star
I'm sorry to tell you that you have supported child labour. What you did is really encouraging child labour. I'm sure you saw that child the next day at your door or neighbourhood. What is unethical cannot be justified underany circumstances. I think you should have taken that child to the Police so that the parents would be dealt with by the law.
