ArticlePDF Available
AbstractInternational Labour Organization (ILO)
estimates that there are about 250 million economically active
children worldwide. In Malaysia, although the Children and
Young Persons Act (Employment) 1966 prohibits the children
to be employed, previous studies proved that there are high rate
of working children in certain states in Malaysia. It is believed
that thousands of working children in Malaysia to be in an
environment which is potentially harmful to their physical,
mental, emotional, and social development. To identify the
types and instances of child abuse for the working children, a
study has been conducted to 454 working children in four states
in Malaysia. Based on data analysis, it is found that more than
half (63%) of the working children have been emotionally abuse,
27% physically abused and at least 10% have been sexually
abused. Majority of them are not happy with their current job
and are regretful for not attending school. This represents their
basic necessities to have proper education and they should not
expose to work at this early age. This research contributes to
increase the awareness of public and government to take care of
the need of children basically on the issue of child abuse for
working children.
Index TermsChild labour, child abuse, working children,
Malaysia.
I. INTRODUCTION
In any normal and decent environment, children should be
able to rely and depend on adults especially their parents,
close family and relatives for proper nurturing and guidance
which they need in order to grow up. It is believed that many
children have not received consistent and proper care from
their parent that is essential for the optimum development of
their lives. Besides the parent should be responsible to ensure
the welfare of the children, it is the duty of government to
ensure socio-economic rights for all citizens where children
will be given adequate maintenance for their wellbeing.
Basically the children should receive healthy food, nutrition,
safe and potable water, accommodation, security, education,
and medical treatment. If they are denied all these needs, it
will affect them physically, mentally, and psychologically.
Astonishingly, many children in developing countries do
not have access to potable water, medical attention, sound
education, food, good accommodation, and the necessary
amenities. This would have a tremendous effect on children‟s
growth and their functions to serve the countries in the future.
Thus, to survive, many children have to earn the little means
that would enable them to cover their daily needs and to
contribute to the parents and siblings. Child labour is one of
the major and most rampant problems facing children in
developing countries. Despite the fact that the law on child
rights has been passed in many countries, there is lack of
enforcement in some countries because of alleged
inconsistencies with their religion and culture. In this context,
children are forced to study and work at the same time as to
supplement their families‟ income to improve their family‟s
standard of living. If the working children are treated fairly,
it is good to improve their skills and self confident, but in
case the children who are denied necessary and basic rights
or working under hazardous conditions which will affect
their health, physical development and education, or engage
in harmful employment; it is legally and rationally prohibited
in the interest of the child.
This research focuses on the background of working
children in Malaysia and investigates the issue of child abuse
experienced by these children at the workplace. After
introduction, it is followed by literature review on the
contributing factors that made the children involves in
employment. This is followed by methodology adopted in
this research which is quantitative method, data analysis,
results, and discussion. This research paper ends with
conclusion and suggestion for future research.
II. CHILD LABOUR IN MALAYSIA
International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that
there are about 250 million economically active children
(individuals below 18 years old) worldwide. Sixty one
percent or roughly 153 million of these workers are in Asia.
Around half of the economically active children are working
full time and 20-30%, or about 30 to 46 million are in
exploitative conditions or worst forms of child labor.
In Asia, many of these child labourers who are young as
seven years old, are hidden. They work as household help,
workers in farming and fishing industries, providers of sex
services, workers in quarries, mines, brick kilns, construction
sites, and increasingly in drug trade. A lot more in many
Asian societies live in full public view as scavengers, street
beggars, vendors, and workers in small scale or home-based
industries. Since these types of work are considered
A Study on Child Labour as a Form of Child Abuse in
Malaysia
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod, Marhanum Che Mohd Salleh, Ashgar Ali Muhammad, and Azizah
Mohd
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 2016
525
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2016.V6.704
Manuscript received October 9, 2014; revised March 15, 2015. This work
was supported in part by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education under
Grant FRGS 13-047-0288.
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod, Ashgar Ali Ali Muhammad, and Azizah
Mohd are with the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic
University Malaysia (e-mail: nahmad@ iium.edu.my, ashgar@ iium.edu.my,
azizahmohd@iium.edu.my).
Marhanum Che Mohd Salleh is with the Kulliyyah of Economics &
Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Malaysia (e-mail:
marhanum@iium.edu.my).
"informal," regulation of the industries does not exist and
monitoring the presence of children in the workplace is not
commonly done.
There is no universally accepted definition of „child
labour‟. Generally, it is taken to mean the employment of
children under an age determined by law or custom, that is
children start to work before they reach the minimum age for
employment. They participate in a wide variety of economic
activities in the production of goods and services to earn a
living for themselves or for others. In order to enhance its
response to effectively eliminate child labour, in 1992 the
International Labour Organization‟s (ILO) created the
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
(IPEC). ILO-IPEC had defined child labour as “… work
situations where children are compelled to work on a regular
basis to earn a living for themselves and their families, and as
a result are disadvantaged educationally and socially…” In
other words these children are forced to carry out activities
that are normally regarded as adult responsibilities. The work
that they do harms or exploits them in some ways
physically, mentally, morally or by blocking access to
education. Thus, child labour is work that keeps children
from attending school.
Child labour not only violates a nation‟s minimum wage
laws, but also threatens the children‟s physical, mental or
emotional wellbeing. Child labour is generally regarded as
exploitative although some social scientists point out that
some kinds of work may be acceptable. In fact in Article 32
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, the United
Nations stipulated that it is, … the right of child to be
protected from economic exploitation and from performing
any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere in the
child‟s education, or to be harmful to the child‟s health or
physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, moral or social
development.
In Malaysia, Section 1A(1) of the Children and Young
Persons (Employment) Act 1966 defines a child as …any
person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age or of
such age as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) may by
notification in the Gazette prescribe… “In Malaysia, under
the Age of Majority Act 1966, the age of majority is set at 18
years, and there is no law totally banning child labour”.
When the Children and Young Persons (Employment) Act
was passed in 1966, it repealed the Children and Young
Persons Ordinance 1947, which had a minimum age of 8
years for working children. The current Act does not have a
minimum age.
Child’s Rights
There has been a growing attention regarding children‟s
rights, particularly in the last 30 years or so. This growing
attention has led to the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 to call for protection of
children from economic exploitation and from work that
threatens their health, education or development (Article 32
of the UNCRC). Generally, it is recognised that children have
rights to education, to care from their parents, to rest and
relaxation. All of which may be compromised due to the
children‟s involvement with work. They are basically
deprived of their childhood, their right to recreate and play
and of their natural development. The Convention speaks of
rights of children covering four broad areas namely the right
to:
1) Survival, which includes adequate living standards and
access to medical services;
2) Development, including education, access to
information, leisure and cultural activities, to play,
freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion;
3) Protection, from all forms of exploitation, abuse and
cruelty, arbitrary separation from family and from abuse
of the criminal justice system; and
4) Participation, including the freedom to express opinions
and to be a part of a decision in matters affecting the
young person‟s life.
Malaysia ratified the UNCRC in 1995. This means that the
government has the responsibility to make sure that all
Malaysian children has all the rights as stated in the
Convention, except for the expressed reservations or as long
as they do not contravene the Constitution, national laws and
national policies of the government.
III. REASONS OF WORKING CHILDREN
In many countries of the world, including Malaysia, the
phenomenon of child labour persists despite the existence
and implementation of laws and regulations to reduce or even
eliminate the problem. The Convention on the Rights of the
Child clearly underscores the need to protect children from
economic exploitation and from performing any work that is
clearly to be hazardous, however child employment
continues to prevail in many developing countries [1].
Although the exact figures of children working is not known,
but in the year 2000, the ILO estimates that “… 246 million
child workers aged 5 and 17 were involved in child labour, of
which 171 million were involved in work that by its nature is
hazardous to their safety, physical or mental health, and
moral development. Moreover, some 8.4 million children
were engaged in so-called „unconditional‟ worst forms of
child labour, which include forced and bonded labour, the
use of children in armed conflict, trafficking in children and
commercial sexual exploitation…” [2].
However, in the four-year period between 2000-2004,
child labour was seen to have declined about 10% and then
continue to decline by about three percent (3%) in the
four-year period 2004-2008 [2]. In many instances, children
are preferred as workforce because they are easy to
manipulate, intimidate, abuse and exploit due in part to their
inexperience and relative immaturity. In Malaysia although
the Children and Young Persons Act (Employment) Act
1966 does not encourage the employment of children, studies
show that there are children in employment [3], [4]. However,
similar with some other countries it is difficult to cite the
number of children actually engaged in child labour in
Malaysia. In fact very little is known about the actual
magnitude, nature and distribution of child labour in the
country. This is because little has been done to collect and
analyse current relevant data regarding the incidence of child
labour in the country. Also official data on child labour is
very limited.
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 2016
526
Furthermore, the Act permits some exceptions such as
children are allowed to do light work in family enterprises or
as an approved apprentice, although they may not work for
more than six (6) hours per day, or six (6) days per week or at
night. In the Population Census of 1980 it was cited that the
number of children between the ages of 10 to 14 years in the
work force was 43,000 [11]. The number declined to 39,746
children in the 1991 Population Census [5].
There are many reasons why children work which
depending on the culture of a society or country, family
beliefs, socio-economic conditions among other reasons.
There are also many types of child labour including domestic
labour, agricultural labour, farm labour, and street workers
(vendors, porters and shoeshine). However, their labour
participation means that they are denied or deprived of their
right to education, which is crucial to their future prospects,
personal development and directly or indirectly to the
development of a country. They are not attending school as
they should or are not spending enough time on educational
development. The notion that the children are being exploited
and deprived of formal education is a cause for concern for
many people. This is because education is regarded as crucial
for the children‟s personal development and future. Also,
these children are part of the country‟s future human capital
and as such may have an impact on its future social and
economic situations. Even when work does not prevent
school attendance, it can have an adverse effect on the
children‟s school performance. Not only those, these children
are also deprived of their „childhood‟ as they become
„premature adults‟.
A study conducted by [6] in 2007-2008 at Sabah have
found that the main reason that brought the children to the
working space is because of financial needs of their family.
This situation parallels with the finding from previous study
by [7] where poverty has positive relationship with child
labour. The other factors that influenced the child labour in
Sabah found by [6]‟s are because of their choice to exert
selves‟ independence (38.5%) and also by parent advice
(7.7%). In this context, some parents believed that the job
experience gained by their children would later assist them in
the future career, rather than spending time at schools. This is
happen basically for the poor family whereby the children not
performing well in school.
Other Countries
Respectively, the study of child labour in Bangladesh and
India found that the patterns of involvement in economic
activity by gender differ in the two countries. In Bangladesh,
boys are much more likely to be involved in economic
activity. Involvement in economic activity is highest, and the
gender gap is largest, in rural areas. In India, by contrast,
gender considerations appear to play a relatively minor role
in household decisions concerning child labour. Girls‟
economic activity rate approaches that of boys, especially in
rural areas.
Meanwhile, study conducted in Indonesia and Pakistan by
[8] on the home-worker children have regards that children in
this category have a higher probability of working and a
lower probability of attending school than children which is
not involve in any home-base activity. In addition, there is
evidence of the feminisation of home-base from childhood,
and female children have a double burden to carry. This is
dramatic in Pakistan while little evidence is found in
Indonesia. The regression results show that, together with
other determinants, as age increases, children are more likely
to work in home-base. In Pakistani urban slums the majority
of children are working but in Indonesia they are in school.
However, the pull factor of work and the push factor of
unaffordable (and possibly poor-quality) schooling combine
to induce drop out from school. It was noticed that home-base
within the household reduces the fixed costs for children (and
parents) of ending work outside the home, since it reduces the
transportation costs, transaction costs, and allows for a higher
divisibility of work “contracts” inside the household business.
Further that that, the mother‟s education level and per capita
income/expenditure or assets in the household were
important determinants of the child‟s activity status. Finally,
the hours that children work in Pakistan suggest that their
ability to do school-related activities is likely to be impacted.
In addition, [9] have investigated to what extent the
participation of child labour leads to lower school attendance
and increased repetition and dropout rates, and whether child
labour affects girls and boys differently. The data in their
study was collected in MICS and DHS household surveys
from 18 African countries. 60 percent of children aged 7 to
14 years in the sample are attending school and 38 percent are
engaged in child labour. 20 percent of all children are
combining school attendance and child labour. A regression
analysis shows that household wealth and education of the
mother are the most important determinants of school
attendance. Children from wealthier households and children
of mothers with a formal education are more likely to attend
school. In the majority of the countries in the study, boys,
urban residents, and children not engaged in labour also have
an increased probability of school attendance.
IV. METHODOLOGY
A research can be designed qualitatively, quantitatively, or
with mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology. This
present research is designed quantitatively where the data for
the study is collected through a survey based on
self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires
basically cover the research objectivesand gather
demographic information of the respondents. All of the
questionnaires are developed for this research based on
literatures review.
The pilot study was conducted to test the questionnaires
and measurement items for clarity and understanding. It is a
necessary step in the data collection process to identify any
problems with the research instrument, and to determine the
content and face validity of the measures used in the
questionnaires. In this process, a few experts in Law were
involved as well as 30 working children in Selangor and
Melaka. Parallel with the final sampling frame, the pilot
study has involved working children below 17 years old. This
is consistent with [10] view that the pilot sample should be
typical and representative. Upon the successful completion
the pilot test, the final survey was conducted. The
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527
respondents are 454 working children of 4 states in Malaysia.
Data collected were analyzed using a Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.
V. RESULTS
A. Background of Working Children
As presented in Table I (see appendix), a total of 454
respondents (working children) have contributed in this
research. It is observed that majority of the working children
that participated in this research are males (60 percent). It
could represent the actual number of working children which
majority are male rather than female. In terms of age, most of
the children were from the older group age, which is the age
group between 15 and 17 years-old (81 percent) and the rest
belong to 10-15 years old age group (19 percent). However,
only one of them was from the youngest group (5-10 years
old).
In addition, most of the children are Muslims (72 percent)
and Malays (62 percent). It is followed by Chinese (14
percent), other races (14 percent), and the least were Indian
(10 percent). Among the current job that involved by the
children are in restaurant, cyber café, business, car wash,
night market, sales, and many others as indicated in Table 1.
Basically, most of them have working as shop assistant (84
children), followed by restaurant worker (74 children), have
own business (48 children), and car wash worker (38
children). It is observed that their family‟s education (mother
and father) mostly having secondary school as their highest
education. Moreover, majority of their parents still married
(82 percent) while the rest (18 percent) either were divorced
or passed away. Therefore, more than half of the children still
leave with both of their parents (77 percent) while only 18
percent either stay with their mother or father and 5 percent
leaving with others. Details on the background of the
children are presented in the Table 1 (see the appendix).
B. Types of Child Abuse
Base on descriptive analysis, the research found that at
least 108 working children have experienced physical abuse.
From this figure, more than half of them (69.5 percent) have
been pushed and beaten while working and nearly one-third
have been manhandled (23 percent). Meanwhile, the other
physical abuse are thrown out (3.7 percent children suffered),
beaten and pushed (2.8 percent children suffered), and beaten
and manhandled (0.9 percent children suffered). Table II
presents details on the number of working children that have
been experienced physical abuse together with the valid
percentage.
TABLE II: PHYSICAL ABUSE
Types of physical abuse Frequency Percentage
Beaten 33 30.6
Thrown Out 4 3.7
Pushed 42 38.9
Manhandled 25 23.1
Beaten and Pushed 3 2.8
Beaten and Manhandled 1 0.9
Total 108 100.0
In addition, the research also asked the working children
whether they have been emotionally abused while working.
Unfortunately, more than half of the working children (54
percent) have been mistreated emotionally which includes
threaten, despise, and insulted. Accordingly, majority of the
children reported that they always been insulted by their
employers while working (215 children). And the rest of
them were either been threaten (10 children) and despise (12
children). Table III below presents details on this result.
TABLE III: EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Types of emotional
abuse Frequency Percentage
Threaten 10 4.08
Despise 12 4.90
Insulted 215 87.80
Threaten and Insulted 6 2.45
Threaten and Despise 1 0.41
Despise and Insulted 1 0.41
Total 245 100.0
TABLE IV: NEGLECTED
Types of abuse Frequency Percentage
Denied food 29 43.28
Denied treatment 38 56.72
Total 67 100.0
Finally, the research also investigates whether there are an
issue of sexual abuse on the working children in Malaysia. In
this context, 38 of the working children have experienced
either raped, sexual threat, or molested. From this number,
most of them were faced sexual threat in their work place
(60.53 percent). Meanwhile, 14 children have been molested
and there was one case where the child was raped while
working. Table V below presents details on this result.
TABLE V: SEXUAL ABUSE
Types of emotional
abuse Frequency Percentage
Raped 1 2.63
Sexual threat 23 60.53
Molested 14 36.84
Total 38 100.0
VI. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The aims of the current research is to investigate the
background of working children in Malaysia and also to
examine the issue of child abuse in this country whether it is
in critical stage that need some action to be taken. Base on
past studies, the background of children that basically relate
to their gender, parents‟ educational level, and income have
much influenced them to involve into working environment.
For example, [11] find that it is the father‟s education that has
the greatest impact using data from Brazil, whereas [12] find
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 2016
528
The other issue faced by the working children was in terms
of food and treatment. In this regards, the research found that
at least 67 children have experienced this issues. In particular,
more than half (56.72 percent) reported that they have been
denied treatment by the employers when something happen
during working. Details on this result were presented in
Table IV below.
that it is the mother‟s education that has the greatest effect
using data from rural India. Interestingly, both [11] and [12]
find that the father‟s education has a larger effect on the
labour force participation of sons than of daughters,
indicating a gender aspect to the decision to send children to
school or to work. Similarly, this research found that the
educational level of the majority of the parents‟ of working
children were in secondary level and this basically represent
low family income which require the children to work as to
support the family members.
Additionally, child labor was primarily regarded as a
demand-driven phenomenon, in recent decades much
attention has focused on supply factors such as demography,
poverty and family-income choices [13]. In poor countries,
children often form part of collective family strategies for
income generation [14]. Family or social crises may force
children to drop out of school in order to generate income,
and compulsory schooling may push children into part-time
work to cover school costs. Previous studies acknowledge
that increases in family wealth, and a diminution in poverty
levels, will result in households electing to withdraw their
children from the labor market (Amin et al., 2004; Salmon,
2005; Bar & Basu, 2009). This research however did not
found any influence of the family problem made the children
to work as the results indicate that most of their family still
married and they are staying with both of them.
Interestingly, this research looks into the issue of child
abuse for working children. Base on data analysis, there are
three types of child abuse that have been experienced by
working children in Malaysia. It‟s including physical,
emotional, and sexual abuse. Base on Fig. 1 below, majority
of the children were emotionally abused (whereby majority
of them reported that they were always been insulted by their
employers. This should not be happen for working children
as they still not reach matured level and need full guidance
from their employers to do the assigned job. If the employers
realised their responsibility towards enhancing the capability
of the working children, there would bright future for the
company and also the children themselves. Consequently,
this may lead to a positive perception towards the
phenomenon of working children in a general.
Fig. 1. Types of child abuseconclusion and suggestion for future research.
Overall, this research basically investigates the
background of the working children in Malaysia and focuses
on the issues of child abuse in workplace. Simple descriptive
analyses have been conducted to achieve the research
objectives. Based on the results, it is realised that the working
children still been abused physically, mentally, and sexually.
In this regards, severe rules and enforcement should be done
to the employers who have hired children in their company.
To achieve this target, full commitment from the public and
government is needed so as to ensure the working children
are under proper treatment by their employer.
In terms of future research, it is suggested to explore the
condition of working children at the poor country where it is
believed that they are more expose to the issue of child abuse
either physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. As this research
only limit to Malaysia context, the issue of child abuse can be
regarded as controllable. However, there are countries where
the children are fully utilised and treated unfairly by the
irresponsible employers. Future research can be conducted to
explore these countries by using case study methodology.
APPENDIX
Background of working children:
Demographic Information Frequency Percent
(%)
Gender Male 270 59.5
Female 184 40.5
Total 454 100.0
Age Group 5-10 years 1 0.2
10-15 years 86 18.9
15-17 years 367 80.8
Total 454 100.0
Race Malay 281 61.9
Indian 44 9.7
Chinese 64 14.1
Others 65 14.3
Total 454 100.0
Religion Islam 325 71.6
Hindu 26 5.7
Buddhist 45 9.9
Christian 53 11.7
Others 5 1.0
Total 454 100.0
Demographic Information Frequency Percent
(%)
Mothers‟
Education No formal education 59 13.0
Primary school 112 24.7
Secondary school 207 45.6
University 72 15.9
Others 4 0.8
Total 454 100.0
Fathers‟
Education No formal education 34 7.5
Primary school 110 24.2
Secondary school 221 48.7
University 82 18.1
Others 7 1.5
Total 454 100.0
Parents‟ marital
status Married 372 81.9
Divorced 60 13.2
Pass away 20 4.4
Unknown 2 0.4
Total 454 100.0
Guardian Mother & Father 349 76.9
Father 23 5.1
Mother 59 13.0
Others 23 5.1
Total 454 100.0
Occupation Boutique 4 0.9
Bus conductor 10 2.2
Business 45 9.9
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 2016
529
Cafeteria 2 0.4
Car wash 38 8.4
Cashier 28 6.17
Cyber cafe 23 5.1
Chef 4 0.9
Cleaner 4 0.9
Clerk 6 1.3
Construction 4 0.9
Technician 2 0.4
Factory worker 5 1.1
Farmer 2 0.4
Fast-food 17 3.7
Labour-force 12 2.6
Hotel 3 0.7
Mechanic 18 4.0
Night market 11 2.4
Petrol station 4 0.9
Restaurant 74 16.3
Sales & promotion 24 5.3
Saloon 4 0.9
Shop assistant 84 18.5
Teacher 8 1.8
Others 20 4.4
Total 454 100.0
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International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 6, No. 7, July 2016
530
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod obtained his
bachelor of laws at University of Malaya, master of
law at King‟s College, University of London,
England, diploma in Shariah law and practice at
International Islamic University, and doctor of
philosophy at University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He
has published articles at International and Local
journals which include Asian Law Institute (ASLI)
Law Journal, and Macquarie Journal of International
and Comparative Environmental Law, Kashmir University Law Journal and
IIUM Law Journal, He has received emerald literati network award for
outstanding paper 2009 for “Biosafety protocol SPS agreement and export
and import control of LMOs/GMOs” in the Journal of International Trade
Law and Policy.
Ashgar Ali Muhammad obtained LL.B (Hons) and
MCL from International Islamic University Malaysia
(IIUM), LL.M (Hons) (New Zealand), and Ph.D
(business law), advocate and solicitor (University
Malaya). His area of specialisation is employment
law and sub-specialisation are civil Ligitation and
Shariah court civil procedure. He has published
articles at International and Local journals including
Malaysian Current Law Journal, International Journal of Humanities and
Social Science, Journal of Applied Sciences Research, International Journal
of Sustainable Development, and Malayan Law Journal.
Azizah Mohd studied at International Islamic
University Malaysia since 1983 and graduated with
LLB, LLB(S), MCL and PhD in 2005. Her area of
expertise including Islamic family law, child rights,
child protection. She is the author for a book
Protection and adoption of abandoned children in
Malaysia: A comparative overview with Islamic
law‟. Among the journals that became her medium
of publication: Australian Journal of Basic Applied Sciences (AJBAS),
Journal of Islamic Law Review (JILR), Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work
and Development, and OIDA International Journal of Sustainable
Development.
Marhanum Che Mohd Salleh obtained her bachelor
degree from University of Malaya in year 2008,
specialization in Shariah and Management. She did
her MSc degree in finance and pursue her PhD in
Islamic Banking at International Islamic University
Malaysia. Her area of expertise includes Islamic
marketing, Islamic finance, banking, and Takaful. She
has published her works Australian Journal of Basic
and Applied Sciences, Journal of Islamic Finance and Business Research,
Journal of Islamic Finance, and International Journal of at-Thaqafah.
... A violation of the Act is punishable by imprisonment for a term of not more than three years, a fine of not more than RM10,000, or both. Children's employment is prohibited to eliminate child labour and exploitation and allow them to focus on their education (Mahmood et al., 2016). ...
Article
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This article talks about the status offences against children, their relevance and the discussion of the status offences from the perspective of equality clause.
... Reliance is accordingly placed on case law reports, small-scale studies, or available reports submitted to foreign authorities. A study on child labour situation conducted on a total of 454 working children in four states in Malaysia (Mahmod et al., 2016) found that more than half (63%) of the children were emotionally abused, 27 percent were subjected to physical abuse, and at least 10 percent had been sexually abused. Most of the children surveyed were unhappy with their current employment, and there was remorse for not attending school. ...
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Given the exposure to today's easy-to-know information, children should seemingly become mature faster than their predecessors, and therefore better informed even at a tender age. However, it remains to be seen whether fixingthe age of 18 forminors or children to enter into contracts is relevant. This paper focuses on contract law; it examines the age of majority and the legal implications of contracts entered into by minors. To a certain extent, this paper examines the issue by making comparisons between Malaysian and English law. The findings derived imply that the determination of the age of majority needs to be compatible with the capacity of minors and current realities. This determination must be premised on a fair balance between protecting minors' welfare and the interest of those who have attained the age of majority.
... His study suggested that a step taken by state in terms of sustainable development projects and programs can control child labour in developing countries. According to Mahmod et al. (2016) in developing countries child labour is very high and too common which is a form of abuse. According to Zafar et al. (2016), child labour is a rising worldwide issue, especially in the developing countries, as well as Pakistan is no exception. ...
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This study has examined the impact of political instability on child labour on the panel of 53 developing economies. To conduct this analysis, this study has applied GMM (generalized method of moments) techniques to the panel data of child labour (dependent variable) and political instability urbanisation, inflation, gross domestic product, and trade (independent variables) from 2000 to 2015. In addition, it has conducted the disaggregated analysis, which is based on the level of income in developing economies. This study has concluded that political instability has a positive impact on child labour in developing countries. Child labour is positively related to inflation and trade, negatively associated with economic growth rate and urbanization. According to disaggregated analysis, political instability also positively affects child labour in low-income and high-income countries. Still, trade has a positive impact on high-income countries and a negative impact on low-income countries. In addition, control variables and child labour in the primary model and disaggregate analysis have the same relationships. Empirical results of this study suggest that political instability plays a critical role in increasing child labour in developing countries and has indicated that the government of developing countries should pay particular attention to political instability. Child labour can be reduced by taking good steps toward controlling political instability.
... Medical benefits and medication are rarely allowed to them (Aktar & Abdullah, 2013). They rarely get leisure in their working period (Islam et al., 2014) and the long strenuous working hours impact their physical and mental health (Mahmod et al., 2016;Zaman et al., 2014). As Kim et al. (2020) and Das and Mukherjee (2011) showed different dimensions of the economic exploitations and deprivation of the CLs in India; and Pinilla-Roncancio and Silva (2018) in Angola. ...
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Taking unjust and unlawful benefits of children’s labour for someone’s gain or gratification can be termed as economic exploitations in child labour. The study aimed to explore the prevalence of economic exploitations and their determinants among child labourers (CLs). Lalbagh, Hazaribagh, and Kamrangirchar sub-districts of Dhaka district were rationally chosen as the areas of the study. The study adopted a mixed-method design, where a proportional probability sampling was used. A list of 1753 CLs comprising 543, 587 and 626 from the selected study areas was prepared through a short enumeration survey and 324 CLs were interviewed systematically from the list to collect quantitative data using a face-to-face structured interview schedule. The study also collected qualitative data through 15 in-depth case interviews (five from each sub-district). Multivariate logistic regression was employed to determine the associated factors with the economic exploitations. Thematic analysis was followed, and then a concurrent technique was employed for data analysis. Results showed that 97% of the CLs were economically exploited. The multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that the socio-economic and occupational factors were significantly associated with these economic exploitations in different variables used in the study. On the other hand, the qualitative findings showed that the CLs were physically and verbally abused, engaged long working hours with less than minimum wage, involved in various hazardous jobs while hardly received treatment costs due to occupational injury. Finding would be an important guideline for the governmental and non-governmental organizations, policymakers, human rights workers and development practitioners in the related field.
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This study was aimed at assessing the utilization of child labour in agriculture and factors influencing it amongst rural households in Ramoetsane Community Council, Mafeteng District in Lesotho. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 156 household heads as respondents in this study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data which was analysed using descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model. The descriptive findings revealed that parents/guardians engaged children in agricultural activities such as herding animals, harvesting and carrying food and fodder, administering veterinary drugs and vaccines to animals, ploughing the fields, sowing seeds, removing weeds, and selling fruits and vegetables in the streets. The majority (60%) of the household heads were married females and mostly aged 70 years and older. A lot of household heads had primary education and earned their living from agriculture with a monthly household income of less than M1000.00 and a mean household size of 7 members. Binary regression analysis revealed access to farm machinery (p=0.017), land size (p=0.028), cost of children's education (p=0.025), education level (p=0.172), household income (p=0.139) and culture (p=0.000) as statistically significant factors that influenced child labour engagement in household agricultural activities in the study area. It was, therefore, recommended that free education should be extended to secondary education and that law enforcement agencies should enforce all legal provisions to protect the rights and welfare of the children.
Chapter
The rise of digital labour platforms has been among the most significant changes in the world of work, a change that has transformed the global employment landscape. Digital platform work refers to work on web-based platforms and location-based apps. Although characterised by greater volatility and uncertainty, it is agreed that digital platform work is an attractive alternative to unemployment and offers flexibility to people in generating income. This current trend has certainly attracted, predominantly, young people. The growing population of young people, along with digital labour platforms that are expected to stay permanently have created both opportunities and challenges for the traditional workforce. Their employment status is often ambiguous. Workplace protections and entitlements are entirely denied. The objectives of this study are two-fold, firstly to review the rights and protection for young workers working on digital platforms and secondly, to make recommendations to improve the rights and protection for young workers working on digital platforms. This is a socio-legal research where the qualitative method is employed by putting secondary sources through content analysis and the result is analysed through thematic analysis method. Findings show that the existing laws in Malaysia do not accommodate young workers in digital platform work. The findings of this study extend the discussion on labour law protections and support decent work and economic growth as aspired through the Sustainable Development Goals.
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This paper about the study of Annual data Gross Domestic Product of Pakistan. We used data for future forecasting of Gross Domestic Product of Pakistan. Pakistan is counted in developing country in the world. To apply Box-Jenkins methodology to identify the order of ARIMA model and forecast that model. The study evaluates the sample for next 10 years forecasting data. First check the stationary and unit root test is used to check the stationarity of data. It is found that a slight trend in the data and remove trend at 1 st difference is applied which makes the data set is stationary. For identification model ACF and PACF are plotted. Selecting the best model used Box Jenkins methodology on basis of smaller AIC, SBC and MSE. Since, ARIMA (0,1,1) has the lowest value of AIC, SBC and MSE. So, this model is recommended as best for forecasting.
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In this paper we studies the Pakistan’s medical field is not more established. So, the people preference of taking medical interventions by different professionals. The objective of this study is to investigate the how many people’s taking medicine for specialist and how many people’s relief disease with in two day in district Hafizabad. From this study we conclude that majority of respondent’s preference the specialist for health provider and majority of respondent relief disease within two days.
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Objective. The present article aims to present the changes and re-modulation of the conceptual and psychometric evolution of the Psychodiagnostics Chart (PDC)and its latest version PDC-3 first developed by Gordon and Bornstein in 2012 (Ibrahimi & Gordon,2020; Gordon & Bornstein; 2012 )and later revised by the authors in the 2022 (PDC-3) as a useful tool of screening, assessment, and prophylaxis in the scientific world (Gordon,2022; Durmishi, Ibrahimi, et al. 2022). We aim to describe this novel clinical tool’s utility and adaption to the new trends for the assessment, prevention, and treatment of Mental Health (Ibrahimi & Gordon,2020). Material and methods. The present study introduces the new changes in PDC, and its development status based on the re-organization of the tool by the authors and a variety of international replications and scientific evidence of its suitable psychometric scores. Through the questioning of expert assessment practitioners from different psychological backgrounds for the PDC and a follow-up study with mental health professionals’ providers in Italy (N=1000), authors examined their attitudes toward the PDC-2; its utility, and properness of use for a large-scale of professionals within a determined scientific culture(Gordon,2022; Durmishi, Ibrahimi, et al.2022; Ibrahimi & Gordon,2020; Bram & Yalof, 2014; Bram & Peebles, 2014; Bornstein, 2010) Results. Regressive analyses of the first and second analysis of the PDC-2 follow-up study found that Affect Regulation (or level of defensive functioning) (β = .35, t (93) = 6.01, p < .001), Reality testing (β = .32, t (93) = 5.02, p < .001), Object Relations (β = .20, t (93) = 3.76, p < .001) and Identity (β = .19, t (93) = 2.69, p < .001) produced an R2 = .89, indicating that the four components accounted for 89% of the variance in Overall Personality Organization. Affect regulation, Reality Testing, Object Relations, and Identity were statistically significant for respondents (R2 = .898). RCI and MANOVA test values showed a statistically significant difference in mental health practitioners and synchronous positive attitude engagement compared to the psychosocial assistants for the development of positive attitudes toward the utility of PDC-2 as a screening tool RCI = 7.657; MANOVA, α =, 043; η2 p =, 453; RCI: 0, 19; MANOVA, α =, 075; η2 p =, 901. Other assets assessed for clinical and statistical significance relate to the sample evaluation of the utility of PDC-2 for addressing Personality Organization (PO) compared to other tools such as MMPI-2RF.Indices show that in the overall PDC-2 for PO is (Z = 9,0987; Sig. = .720) (M = .53; SD = .50) comparing to the MMPI-2 RF (Z = 2.801; Sig. = .601) (M = 2.16; SD = .560). Conclusions. The strong internal coherence both in the first examinations of PDC and the follow-up PDC-2 (2012;2018;2022) calculated through the responses of the sample in both studies, as well as the qualitative information collected by the responses made us suggest that PDC-2 may provide significant support for later psychometric evaluations and examination (Gordon, 2022; Gordon et al.,2015; Gordon & Stoffey;2014). As revealed by the follow-up current research, not all professionals who worked in the mental health area were familiar enough with the psychodynamic background, so we recommend a prior treatment session for the basics of PDM and PDC by the authors to the mental, medical, and psychosocial health staff before using the PDC-3. The authors also suggest that a new and dimensional assessment tool that regards not only the mental functionality analysis but, also the whole personality organization of an individual in different contexts of his psychic is an extraordinary resource for clinical screening and prevention of events when unpredictive events such as war, pandemics or other significant life-changing situations can turn in prevailing and on hard consequences for the future of the whole society.
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The consequences of the recent pandemic have been disproportionately disruptive to several social groups, including children. As developing economies have been firefighting the recent pandemic, the welfare of minors could be affected and children’s economic exploitation and abuse could increase. Therefore, the present research aims to shed light on and to investigate the association between child labour in developing countries and pandemics, including the coronavirus, through conducting a systematic literature review on previous empirical studies. The present research concludes that previous studies on non-COVID-19 pandemics have mainly focused on the African economies, while studies on the recent pandemic have focused on Asian countries. In addition, differences were observed in relation to the methodological approaches and the characteristics of minor employees and the protection services in certain countries have proven to be insufficient. Suggestions for future research and policy implications are presented.
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In many countries of the world child labour persists despite the existence and implementation of laws and regulations to eliminate the problem. In many instances children are preferred as workforce because they are easier to manipulate, intimidate, abuse and exploit due in part to their inexperience and relative immaturity. There are many reasons why children work. However, their labour participation means that they are denied or deprived of their right to education, which is crucial to their future prospects, personal development and directly or indirectly to the development of a country. They are not attending school as they should or are not spending enough time on educational development. A study was conducted in 2007-2008 in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia to determine if the working children are aware of their right to education and if they feel deprived not attending school. It is also to identify reasons they work and if they would return to school if given the opportunity to do so. A total of 26 child labourers aged 9 – 18 years were sampled and interviewed for the purpose. This paper discusses the findings of the study. From the study it can be concluded that there are many reasons that caused many children to work, which in turn have deprived them of their education. Without education their future would be bleak. This is because only education can help change and improve their lives and their future.
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The issue of child labor continues to challenge thinking on the nature of work, play, schooling and apprenticeship. New wisdom from some contemporary academic writing places children closer to the center of our understanding of consumption, production and reproduction, and at the heart of inequities generated by globalization. Child labor comes in many forms and intersects with local life and global processes in a myriad of ways. The child laborers in this study work as ‘volunteer’ checkout packers in Tijuana supermarkets. By highlighting aspects of their complex daily lives, this article develops new ways of thinking about children's work socially and spatially, while acknowledging the global contexts of this work.
Article
This chapter addresses how the use of the human rights principle of nondiscrimination can influence understanding of the various dimensions of child labour. It starts by presenting the human rights framework for analyzing child labour and education. It also considers how to overcome discrimination against girls in terms of child labour. The data shows the significance of using the human rights principle of non-discrimination to analyse the link between school attendance and child labour. Some reasons why children in sub-Saharan Africa are not attending school are reported as well. Furthermore, several recommendations for policy are given.
Article
This paper reports the results of a research project that allowed children to define their capabilities as the basis of a bottom-up strategy for understanding the relevant dimensions of children's well-being. The subjects of this research were children participating in the 'Children's World Congress on Child Labour' held in Florence in May 2004, organized by the Global March against Child Labour and other associations. Children were invited to interact and express their opinions on the most relevant issues related to their childhood and adolescence. The paper has three main aims. The first is to propose and legitimate a view that considers children not simply as recipients of freedoms, but also as participants in the process of delineating a set of core capabilities. The second is to propose a methodological approach to the conceptualization of a list of relevant capabilities. The third is to identify a tentative list of relevant capabilities for children through a participatory bottom-up approach. One of the key findings of the research is that, among the capabilities conceptualized, education, love and care are primary in terms of relevance.
Article
International concern over the problem of child labour often focuses on children working in the manufacturing and export sectors. Yet, most children in the developing countries provide unpaid agricultural and domestic labour, often at the expense of their education. A holistic approach that considers schooling in conjunction with children’s participation in child care, farm work, and other household responsibilities is, thus necessary to formulate policies that will encourage greater educational attainment. This paper has investigated the implications of children’s participation in household activities on schooling using a household survey from rural Ethiopia. The result suggests that combining work with school attendance is common among school children, although some activities may hamper school attendance more than others. Hence, a gradual policy towards child labour may be necessary in the context of subsistence economies, where initial interventions should aim at making the combination of work and school attendance possible rather than eliminating immediately child labour. To achieve this, introduction of a flexible school system that recognizes the peak demand seasons for family and agricultural labour may be necessary.
Article
This paper examines the effects of birth order on the child labor incidence and school attendance of Brazilian children. Evidence from the psychology and sociology literature suggests that earlier-born children tend to have higher innate abilities. The economic implications of these findings are that earlier-born children may have more intra-household resources directed to them when they are young, and better outcomes as adults in areas such as education and earnings. However, in the context of child labor, the effects of birth order can be confounded by the fact that earlier born children are able to command higher wages than their younger siblings. Also, in the presence of capital constraints, poor families may not be able to afford to send their earlier born children to school, but may be able to send their later-born children due to the income earned by their older siblings. This paper presents both a theoretical discussion and an empirical investigation of the relationship between birth order and child labor. The results from the empirical investigation show that, in fact, male first-born children are less likely to attend school than their later born siblings and that male last-born children are less likely to work as child laborers than their earlier born siblings. For female children, first-borns are less likely to go to school than their later born counterparts. These findings are intriguing as they run counter to the received wisdom of the effects of birth order, but make sense when considering the child labor decision of poor families in the face of capital constraints.
Article
This paper analyses the effect of child labor on household labor supply using 1920 US Census micro data. The aim of the analysis is to understand who in the household benefits from child labor. In order to identify a source of exogenous variation in child labor I use State-specific child labor laws. I find that a rise in the proportion of working children by household is associated with no variation in parents¿ labor supply. I also find a strong negative externality among children: as the proportion of working children by household rises, everything else equal, the probability that each child works falls while the probability that he attends school rises. This suggests that parents redistribute entirely the returns from child labor to the children in the household, consistent with a model of household labor supply with fully altruistic parents.
Article
This paper investigates the effects of human capital on productivity using micro panel data of rural households in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan, where a substantial job stratification is observed in terms of income and education. To clarify the mechanism underlying this stratification, the human capital effects are estimated for wages (individual level) and for self-employed activities (household level), and for farm and non-farm sectors. Estimation results show a clear contrast between farm and non-farm sectors-wages and productivity in non-farm activities rise with education at an increasing rate, whereas those in agriculture respond only to the primary education. Copyright © 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Global Built AssetWealth Index
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D. O. Statistic. (1995). Global Built AssetWealth Index 2013. [Online]. Available: http://www.statistics.gov.my/main/main.php
Children in employment in peninsular Malaysia
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M. George, "Children in employment in peninsular Malaysia," in Child Labour in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya, 1992, pp. 1-75.