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The Challenge of Child Labour in International Law
Abstract
Child labour remains a widespread problem around the world. Over 200 million children can be regarded as child labourers, and about 10 million children are involved in producing either agricultural or manufactured products for export. Franziska Humbert explores the status of child labour in international law. Offering a wide-ranging analysis of the problem, she explores the various UN and ILO instruments and reveals the weaknesses of the current frameworks installed by these bodies to protect children from economic exploitation. After assessing to what extent trade measures such as conditionalities, labelling and trade restrictions and promotional activities can reduce child labour, she suggests an alternative legal framework which takes into account the needs of children.
... In 1926, the League of Nations signed the so-called The Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery, also known as the Slavery Convention, which was the first international document to define the concept of slavery: "Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised" (OHCHR 1926). This definition refers to the idea of chattel slavery and other forms of slavery listed in the Report of the Temporary Slavery Commission drafted back in 1924 that included, for instance, forms of child labor such as domestic enslavement, but did not mention child labor itself (Humbert 2009). Nevertheless, after the creation of the United Nations, the ad hoc Committee of Experts on Slavery, who were appointed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1949, pointed out that the definition of slavery in the Slavery Convention did not cover the full range of practices related to slavery and that there were other equally repugnant forms of servitude that should be prohibited. ...
... It is observed that the Supplementary Convention defined slavery-like practice "as a practice whereby a person is economically exploited by another person on whom the victim is dependent" (Humbert 2009) due to the use of "condition" and "status" in lit a. and b., and "institution or practice" in lit. c and d. meaning that: the destruction of one's juridical personality is the central element to the enumerated practices. ...
... c refers to practices that the violator usually disposes of the woman and her her labor. (Humbert 2009) However, even with this expansion of the concept to a definition more in line with the point made by the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Slavery, there is still much discussion about the need to reformulate the definition of the 1956 Supplementary Convention, which is today the most internationally recognized and is used widely by the UN bodies (Bales and Robbins 2001; Weissbrodt 2002). ...
... In 1926, the League of Nations signed the so-called The Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery, also known as the Slavery Convention, which was the first international document to define the concept of slavery: "Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised" (OHCHR 1926). This definition refers to the idea of chattel slavery and other forms of slavery listed in the Report of the Temporary Slavery Commission drafted back in 1924 that included, for instance, forms of child labor such as domestic enslavement, but did not mention child labor itself (Humbert 2009). Nevertheless, after the creation of the United Nations, the ad hoc Committee of Experts on Slavery, who were appointed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1949, pointed out that the definition of slavery in the Slavery Convention did not cover the full range of practices related to slavery and that there were other equally repugnant forms of servitude that should be prohibited. ...
... It is observed that the Supplementary Convention defined slavery-like practice "as a practice whereby a person is economically exploited by another person on whom the victim is dependent" (Humbert 2009) due to the use of "condition" and "status" in lit a. and b., and "institution or practice" in lit. c and d. meaning that: the destruction of one's juridical personality is the central element to the enumerated practices. ...
... c refers to practices that the violator usually disposes of the woman and her her labor. (Humbert 2009) However, even with this expansion of the concept to a definition more in line with the point made by the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Slavery, there is still much discussion about the need to reformulate the definition of the 1956 Supplementary Convention, which is today the most internationally recognized and is used widely by the UN bodies (Bales and Robbins 2001; Weissbrodt 2002). ...
Ending child labor has been a long-held goal for mankind and remains relevant as one of humanity’s priorities for the short-time future as acknowledged by the inclusion of this issue in the Sustainable Development Goal, target SDG 8.7. This study analyzes Brazil’s efforts toward ending child labor within its territory and draws three main conclusions: (i) the key concepts in the matter are subjective and open to interpretation, (ii) Brazil has made significant but insufficient progress on ending child labor, and (iii) the end of child labor has significant relationships with several other SDGs.
... Studies show that the children are exposed to many occupational hazards including chronic bronchitis and tuberculosis from cigarette, tetanus and skin diseases from picking rag, unwanted pregnancies, brutality and molestation snake bites and vehicular accidents [14,19] In the study area, rice production is the most prominent of all agricultural crop production in terms of area of land cultivated, income and employment generation as the area is blessed with rich and diverse rice ecologies, as result there abound rice milling and marketing businesses. In those rice ventures, several studies disclosed that the roles of children as labourers in executing certain functions are very much acknowledged [20,21]. ...
... Furthermore, impoverished households often use their children as source of hired labour in order to generate income to argument the family meager resources [29]. Generally, in traditional Africa agricultural setting, household heads use children in order to acculturate into them farming skills for future use [30,21]. Table 3 showed that the presence of essential amenities in the urban areas attracted some people respondents to the cities. ...
... In addition, the coefficient of level of poverty of household head had direct relationship with child labour use. This implies that monetary deprived household coercion their children into economic labour in order to augment their meager resources for family upkeep [21,36]. In attestation to the above statement, [3] in their study on relationship between poverty and child labour in Ghana concluded that children from poorer households are almost four times likely to be engaged in harmful (Human capacity inflicting child labour) than those children from wealthy households. ...
Effect of youth “Rural-Urban Migration” on child labour use in rice production in Afikpo South Local
Government Area of Ebonyi State was undertaken in this study. A total of one hundred and twenty
(120) respondents were selected using multi-stage random sampling technique across the local
government area. Data which comprised of information on the socioeconomic characteristics and
the other relevant variables of interest were collected using a well structured questionnaire and
personal interviews. The socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents, causes of Rural and
Urban migration and major rice agronomic practices on which children are used to perform. Probit
model was used to determine the relationship between rural – urban migration and child labour
Original Research Article
Ume et al.; ARJASS, 1(3): 1-11, 2016; Article no.ARJASS.27427
2
use. The major causes of youth migration were persecutions (23.2%), boredom of farming (20.8%),
social amenities (16.6%), economic reasons (16.6%) and peer pressure (12.5%). The determinant
factors to child labour use in farming were age of the child, educational level, household head’s
health and cost of hired labour. The results of production activities in which child labour were used
included bird scaring (25%), fertilizer application (16.6%), clearing (12.5%), and planting (12.5%).
The recommendations proffered were provision of essential social amenities, industries in the rural
areas, the need for modernization of agriculture to reduce youth urban drift, compulsory free
education for all children and as well as government enacting laws to prohibit child labour in the
society.
Keywords: Youth; rural-urban; migration; child labour use; rice production
... Child labor, conjuring up all too real images of children crushing rocks (Andre & Godin, 2014), mining cobalt (Kara, 2023), or in sweatshops (Hartman et al., 2003;Smestad, 2009), is disturbing. However, child labor where the children are media products, is uniquely challenging to assess and adjudicate because it is situated between and across boundaries (Hudders & Beuckels, 2024;Humbert, 2009). First, it is neither an entirely ethical nor an entirely legal question (Kolk & Van Tulder, 2002). ...
... Most modern societies agree that child exploitation and underage labor is morally reprehensible, yet many nations have carved out legal protections for parents to utilize their children's labor for the furthering of the collective family good (Light et al., 1985). Second, the ethical responsibility of protecting children in this context falls somewhere between the individual and the institutional level (Humbert, 2009). Indeed, the issue of who is responsible for underage children as social media influencers (herein kidfluencers), be it regulated by a child's parents or guardians, by media platforms and their terms of service, or by governments and their regulations, has no consensus (Shomai et al., 2024). ...
Kidfluencing, a social media business in which children serve as primary influencers of audience opinions or behavior, is a rapidly growing entrepreneurial phenomenon where parents build enterprises around the likability and antics of their children. Proponents argue that kidfluencing is simply monetizing the existing antics of kids, critics argue that it is child labor. We explore the ethical implications of kidfluencing through the abductive lens of four leading kidfluencer cases—Ryan’s World, Vlad and Nicki, Ninja Kidz, and The Bucket List Family—in light of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Through a comparative case analysis of these four highly successful kidfluencing channels, we demonstrate both the ethical challenges as well as the trade-offs between rewards and rights risks within kidfluencing. We develop a model of five fundamental threats to the rights and freedoms of children involved in social media influencing, proposing a framework by which parents, platforms, and policy-makers can assess and regulate this industry. In so doing, we make contributions to the literatures of child labor and the ethics of care.
... Only small children can make it delicate, and only they can beautifully fix the nuts of carpet is one of the main reasons for child labour involved in the hazardous generation's old house-based carpet industries in developing countries (Humbert, 2009). Carpet sector impact can be noted as these children have breathed problems while when they grow up, they have muscularskeletal injuries (Goodweave, 2020). ...
... Bonded child labour is considered a form of slavery in which children have no choice but to leave without permission of the employer until the redemption of a loan taken by their parents and for payment, these children work from dawn to dusk in brick kilns, houses and other hazardous places that violate their rights and have bad impact on their health (Humbert, 2009). A study conducted among Afghan refugee families in Pakistan in 2011 highlights the mechanism behind debt bondage in the brick kiln sector, stating that approximately 98% of the families surveyed fell into debt bondage just for survival (ILO, 2011). ...
This study focuses on exploring the causes and consequences of child labour on children's health among Afghan’s refugees living in Peshawar. Data were collected from 100 child labour respondents through in-depth interviews from an area of research, and results were drawn through analysis to reach a conclusion. This study found that these child labour respondents have body aches, headaches and joint pain, skin disease, eye problems, coughing, and tiredness, are affected by large family size, facing harassment at the workplace that torcher them physically and mentally as there is no such mechanism that can cure their illness or address their harassment issue. Long working hours, less rest, and heavy loads affect their health negatively. Due to a lack of money and time, these children cannot visit doctors. Even if a doctor's check is free of cost, they do not purchase medicine. These children often rely upon homemade medicine, which is offered by their families. Therefore, this study found that health issues among child labour respondents are a common phenomenon, and treatment issues need to be resolved for their health and their future.
... Many societies, especially poor rural ones, do not necessarily view child work as 'bad', even at an age of eight or nine years. This is partly due to the fact that, in many societies, an apprentice of eight or nine years is not considered as a child ( Franziska, 2009). Veerman (1992 in Franziska (2009) explains that 3 ideas concerning the rights of children are dependent on the prevailing image of childhood, and when that image changes, the ideas about the rights of the child also change. ...
... This is partly due to the fact that, in many societies, an apprentice of eight or nine years is not considered as a child ( Franziska, 2009). Veerman (1992 in Franziska (2009) explains that 3 ideas concerning the rights of children are dependent on the prevailing image of childhood, and when that image changes, the ideas about the rights of the child also change. ...
Children are wonderful creation, an image of what we use to be (childhood). Children are foetus form from the union of male sperm and female egg. Children moved through all the stages in pre natal and gradually become an adult who are responsible and fully aware of their actions. Before reaching this stage, they are vulnerable and depend on external factors for their growth and development. Engaging these young children in any activities that affect their development or prevent them from attending school is called child labour. This study investigated the characteristics of the child labourer, result indicates that children were all of school age; some of the children were living with their parent while others were living with guardian, masters and distance relatives. Children from less educated parents and with low income background form the majority of the child labourers.
... Second, street trading and child labour may also lead to behavioural patterns inimical to healthy citizenship. They may indulge in negative activities or criminal acts, such as prostitution, armed, robbery, and pick pocketing, and face imprisonment (Humert, 2009;Humphrices, 2010). ...
... The third research question was tested and it was confirmed that street trading is associated with a number of dangers, including kidnapping, accidents and the influence of negative or criminal peer groups (c.f., Oruwari, 1996). Finally, the fourth research question was also tested and it was confirmed that street trading and child labour have a negative impact on society as they lead to underdevelopment rather than development of the nation (c.f., Humert, 2009;Humphrices, 2010). ...
Poverty is a serious problem associated with rapid urbanization in developing nations and is a contributory factor in the growth and exacerbation of street trading and child labour. Street trading and child labour in Yenagoa reflect chronic urban poverty, which can compel parents to send children of school age to work to boost family income. Thus, for many hours each day, children of poor parents are engaged in economic ventures including hawking, plaiting of hair, and being apprenticed to various trades. This research sought to explain the basics of child labour, its causes, and its effect on its victims and society as a whole. A questionnaire was used in this study to collect data. Three hundred questionnaires were distributed and 250 were retrieved. The findings of this study establish that street trading and child labour are a great menace to both the individual and society. This study recommends that the Nigerian government enact laws restricting parents from engaging their children in street trading and labour in Nigeria.
... A clear knowledge of the prevalence rate of child labour and its corelationship with juvenile delinquency can easily explain how pervasive these issues are to the larger society. Previous studies on child labour (Okafor, & Bode-Okunade, 2004;Humert, 2009;Shailong, Onuk, & Beshi, 2011;Sibiri, 2011;Sheikh & Prodhan, 2013;Ugwuoke & Duruyi, 2015;Nwazuoke, & Igwe,2016;) have fundamentally focused on the causes, nature, magnitude, effect, worst forms of child labour and legal procedure that could address the problem of child labour. Based on literature little is currently known on the relationship between child labour and delinquent behaviour in Nigeria. ...
... The behavioural mal-adjustment associated with child labour according to Dantive and Haruna (2004) comprise issues such as insecurity, poor emotional reaction, and moral deformity. Child labour, particularly, hawking, scavenging, begging and collecting rubbish, exposes children to bad company, which negatively pressures them into delinquent behaviours such as, consumption of alcoholic beverages, stealing, truancy, disobedient to parental instruction, among others (Hughes, 2009;Humert, 2009;Humphrices, 2010). Besides, it exposes the children to all forms of anti-social behaviours and lifestyle that negatively distort their reasoning and make such a delinquent. ...
The thrust of this paper is to analyse the issues surrounding child labour and delinquent behaviour, linking the core of the problem to parents’ financial status, cultural practices and parental literacy. The article presents that child labour is a widespread global abnormality, wherein underage children are illegally engaged in undignified, dangerous, and debasing economic activities without considering the implication on their safety, security and dreams. These children are unduly engaged or employed to work for longer hours; usually at dumpsites, industrial layouts, farmlands, and in other settings; as servants, labourers and scavengers. A situation that has a significant socio-psychological effect, which in extreme cases results in delinquent behaviour. Child labour invariably creates a feeling of false maturity syndrome, as well as, exposes children to negative habits in the course of interacting with people of low-virtue, who often in the guise of patronizing their wares indoctrinate them into their unsavoury ways of life. As Nigeria battles the increasing rate of child labour and the attendant juvenile delinquency, it has become imperative that qualitative education should be made free, compulsory, relevant, attractive, and available for all, irrespective of their tribe, gender, religion, and geographical location. If child education is guaranteed, it, therefore, follows that parents would not see the need to give out their children as baby sitters and house helps to their relatives who initially promise to give the child good education whereas such relatives eventually use the innocent child in multiple labour such as domestic laundry and street hawking. Received: 7 September 2020 / Accepted: 31 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021
... The concepts of child labour and child work have changed culturally and over time. The main international institutions in this regard, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, distinguish between exploitative or hard work and positive or productive work (Humbert, 2009). ...
The confusion of domestic laws in integration with international laws, the incorrect implementation of laws, and the economic crisis are among the most important factors of child labour in Iran. Examination of the current situation in Iran is impossible due to a lack of transparency. The first step should be to take control of working conditions. By creating special places to work and implementing measures such as recording information about child labour status and planning to improve children’s health and education, activists can help improve children’s working status.
... Dominant theoretical approaches to study and explain child labour come predominantly from the perspective of economics (K. Basu 1998; K. Basu and Van 1998;Gupta 2001;López-Calva 2001); political economy (Bachman 2000;Dimova 2021;Maffei 2005), modern slavery (Nolan and Bott 2018), morals and ethics (Satz 2003) and human rights (Humbert 2009). Some studies present global perspectives (Develtere and Huybrechs 2008;Myers 1999), while others focus on national and local contexts (Webbink, Smits, and de Jong 2012). ...
The global response to child labour is based on the standards set by three major international conventions. This review examines the historical development of the conceptualizations of various forms of child labour, relevant views and perspectives, contemporary theoretical underpinnings, and policy suggestions. The emerging evidence shows that child labour incidences in all its forms have increased in many parts of the world, and the global target to eradicate child labour by 2025 seems unattainable. The evaluation indicates that the current global age-based abolitionist policy to fight child labour has lost some ground. The covid-19 pandemic has worsened the situation and the worst forms of child labour have become even more widespread and deeply normalized in many contexts and communities. The current scholarship of child labour remains critically ignorant of the relevant societal and cultural norms. Contemporary theorists and empiricists emphasize on constructing knowledge with the children and families engaged in child labour and focusing on finding innovative community-led alternatives to the worst forms of child labour. Regulations, policies, and support programmes must recognize the economic contribution of working children and work towards the children's best interests.
... Child labor has prevailed for a long time across the world (particularly in Europe during the Industrial Revolution in the 19 th century and in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America 1 ). A total of 160 million children were in child labor globally from 2020, accounting for nearly 1 10 of all children around the world; 79 million of these were in hazardous work that directly endangered their health, safety, and moral development 2 . According to the ILO, the minimum age for employment is to be prescribed by national law and shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, not less than 15 years 3 . ...
In recent years, Vietnam is joining hands with various international organizations to eliminate child labor and achieve certain results. However, such results are being threatened by the severe effects of acute respiratory infections caused by the new strains of coronavirus (COVID-19). The COVID-19 pandemic has forced countries around the world, including Vietnam, to take instantaneous action to protect children from child labor and sustain national efforts to abolish it. By researching different studies, this article will suggest some ideas that conform with Vietnam's policy to combat child labor.
... Por lo tanto, no fue casualidad que el primer convenio de la OIT abordara únicamente el trabajo infantil industrial y dejara fuera el trabajo de la gran mayoría de los niños trabajadores del mundo que trabajaban en la agricultura, las industrias artesanales o los hogares urbanos. Ignorando las condiciones a menudo terribles en las que vivían y trabajaban, el objetivo era eliminar la posibilidad de que los países que emplearan a niños en trabajos industriales después de su prohibición en Europa y los Estados Unidos obtuvieran una ventaja comercial (Humbert, 2009). La eliminación de esta ventaja competitiva era esencial tanto para el dominio global del Norte como para garantizar la paz social en el Norte a través del pleno empleo. ...
Sostengo que, en contraste con lo que se cree generalmente, los antropólogos han documentado ampliamente la importancia fundamental del trabajo de los niños en las sociedades que han estudiado, pero no han logrado influir en las campañas internacionales contra el trabajo infantil. La razón principal es la captura política por parte de la OIT de la noción de trabajo infantil, que ha dado lugar a la legitimación de la mayoría de las formas de explotación infantil, en particular en las antiguas colonias, y ha impedido que los niños trabajadores se movilicen para reivindicar sus derechos como trabajadores, y por la misma razón, como niños.
Primero interrogo a mis propios datos de trabajo de campo sobre cómo los niños y niñas trabajadores veían su lucha por los derechos y por qué estos resultan en configuraciones inestables que pueden ser mejor denominadas “derechos vivos” (living rights). A continuación, me referiré a la complementariedad entre la exclusión de los niños trabajadores de la legislación internacional del debate sobre el trabajo infantil y la confirmación tácita por parte de los antropólogos de que su trabajo no es problemático y, por lo tanto, no es trabajo infantil. Por último, desempaco la noción de trabajo infantil y sostengo que contradice el hecho de que los niños tienen derechos humanos inalienables. La noción de derechos vivos, finalmente sugiero, puede ayudar a reconceptualizar cómo el derecho internacional puede apoyar mejor las luchas de los niños trabajadores por sus derechos.
... The researcher also noted that most of these children are either being influence by their friends or take drugs/ alcohol to encourage themselves wiped the shame of coming from poor families and have more courage in surviving for their daily bread. Humert (2009) in his study on child labour and drug abuse in Pakistan discovered that more than 60 per cent of the children involved in child labour were male and out of this number most of them advanced the same reason why they take drugs. According to the researcher most of these children engage in drug abuse to influence them survive which in turn affect them academically. ...
The main thrust of this study was to investigate the relationship between psycho-social
behaviour and students’ academic performance among secondary school students in Cross
River State, Nigeria. To guide the study three research questions were posed and converted
into null hypotheses. The hypotheses formulated were based on the following variables:,
substance abuse, students’ emotional depression, and students’ self-esteem as they influence
students’ academic performance in English Language, Mathematics, and Social Studies in
junior secondary school in Cross River State. Correlational research design was adopted for
the study. A sample of 1080 respondents was selected from the research area using stratified
random sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a structured
questionnaire titled “Psycho-Social Behaviour Questionnaire”. The reliability of the
instrument was determined using split half reliability method.. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient analytical technique. The findings revealed that; There is a significant relationship between substance abuse and academic performance. An inverse relationship exist between students’ emotional depression and their academic performance. Lastly, there is a direct significant relationship between students’ self-esteem and their academic performance. The study recommended that families should attached some degree of importance to the education of their children as future leaders.
... Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour and targeted for elimination (Emerson and Souza, 2011;Jean-Marie and Robinson, 2000;Basu and Zarghamee, 2009). Children's or adolescents' participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive (Franziska, 2009;Ravallion and Wodon, 2000). This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. ...
p>Concerns have been growing in Ghana about the employment of children, aged between 5-17 years, in cocoa production activities. This concern is echoed by the International Labour Organisation in its attempt to eliminate Worst Form of Child Labour. The objectives of the study were as to: investigate whether the labour of the children are paid for; determine the extent of children’s involvement; and investigate the risks they are exposed to. Using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), participant groups made up of women, men, children and opinion leaders were purposely selected from 10 cocoa producing communities from the study area. Structured questionnaires were also administered to 50 cocoa farmers through face-to-face interviews. The study revealed that harvesting is the stage in the cocoa production process that children are directly and actively involved. The study concludes by indicating that child labour and cocoa production are inseparable in the cocoa producing areas in the study site.
Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 8 (1): 38-43, June, 2018</p
... A consequence of this is that the exact scope and applicability of Article 35 is brought into question, despite its relatively clear incorporation of the obligations upon state parties. These obligations go beyond requiring the states party to punish offenders after the trafficking has occurred but also to prevent trafficking from occurring, creating obligations with a horizontal effect (Humbert 2009). ...
The trafficking of children has received extensive attention from both academic and political arenas in recent years., yet this growing phenomenon remains a relatively new area of international law. (Gallagher, 2010) Human trafficking has both a long legal and political history, distinguishing it from many contemporary international legal issues. (Gallagher, 2010) Despite this history the term “trafficking” was not defined by international law until the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime; The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children in 2000.
This chapter will illustrate the origins of child trafficking within international law and identify an evolution in understanding of the phenomenon over the course of the last century. Through research in the League of Nations archives, Geneva, this chapter illustrates how a historical perspective enhances understanding of contemporary legal responses to child trafficking. The chapter undertakes a critical analysis of child trafficking within the context of international law; demonstrating the parallels with the White Slavery Conventions of the early twentieth century and the contemporary legal framework.
... [30] In the Vietnamese case, about 100 of children have pleaded their employers not to dismiss them and allow them to continue their work but give them the opportunity for attending school by declining the hours of work because it was matter of surviving. [31] Helping developing countries in their policies and measurements ...
Developing countries globally are involved in a complex process of globalization. These countries for making profit of globalization adopt new policies and measurements which have positive and also negative effects on child labor and which have let it to a phenomenon of child labor crisis. Within the framework of convention on the rights of the child, the states parties to the convention are committed to protect children from child labor and economic exploitation. For an effective and practical protection of such rights and imposition of such obligations on the states parties, these new polices and measurements should be considered. This research tries to demonstrate this crisis of child labor in the process of globalization for developing countries. The findings of this research show that the development of proper policies and measurements such as improving household's income, and avoiding improper and wrong measurements such as competitive advantages policy could manage this crisis, and it might lead to decrease child labor in developing countries in globalization era. This study is based on the certain experiments of developing countries and the direct and indirect effects of globalization on the situation of child labor in those countries. This research tries by examining these consequences of globalization also discover guides and recommendation of management of child labor crisis in developing countries in their involvement to the globalization.
Labour law establishes the minimum age for employment which is lower than the age of adulthood established by the civil law, and, in addition, provides a range of protective measures that should contribute to the unobstructed development and education of minors. In this regard, we should bear in mind that despite the universally accepted ban on employment of persons under the prescribed age and the great progress that has been made in combating child labour, it still exists in many regions of the world. However, in addition to harmful effects, work can have many positive effects on the development of minors, which is why many modern legal systems developed dual work related rules: harmful effects of work are prevented by prohibiting the employment of persons under 15 years of age as well as employment of mature minors in dangerous jobs, and positive effects of work are acknowledged via the possibility of persons under 15 years of age to perform light work and by recognizing the rights of mature minors to independently enter into employment. This deviates from the initial idea that underage workers are only temporary participants in the adult labour market and potential victims of exploitation. This ambivalent understanding of the work of minors makes the re-examination of the universal international labour standards on the prohibition of child labour and their implementation into the legal system of the Republic of Serbia justified.
This paper identifies the basic tendencies in the regulation of employment of minors under the auspices of the International Labour Organization (ILO), starting with the sectoral rules and common standards on minimum age for employment (14 years of age) – to its replacement with 15 years of age as the standard on minimum age for employment, adopted to further humanize the working conditions and develop education, as well as to reduce the numbers of unemployed workers after the great economic crisis (ILO Convention No. 138 of 1973). This paper provides a detailed analysis of these standards, as well as their legal nature. In addition, the author examines the harmonisation of Serbian legislation wuth the analysed standards of the International Labour Organisation, particularly regarding the following issues: special protection of persons who meet the general requirements for employment, but have not completed compulsory education; the issue of authorised employment of minors; if it is suitable to introduce the category of light work allowed for persons under the age of 15, as well as getting minors to work as non-registered workers.
Serbian legislator does not limit employment by introducing the age of completion of compulsory schooling as a requirement, as specified in international standards, which means that in Serbia, a person from 15 to 18 years of age can enter into a contract of employment while still in primary school. Prima facie, this legal provision is not contrary to ILO Convention No. 138, but its consistent application requires instruments that will ensure that minors, who did not complete compulsory schooling, fulfil the duties they have in this regard (e.g. by identifying fields in which employment of these persons may be permitted, or by prescribing the number of working hours and conditions in which subordinate work for the employer can be performed).
Author believes that, in addition to these amendments, it would be extremely important for the Serbian legislator to regulate, not only employment realtionship, but also work of minors on the basis of other contract of civil or commercial law, which is a fundamental obligation of each State ratifying ILO Convention No. 138. This further means that there is a need to establish the minimum age for any kind of (paid or unpaid) work of minors, regardless of whether they entered into a contract or they (de facto) work for somebody else with no legal basis. This is because, in practice, this form of engagement of persons 15 years of age or younger undeniably exists and, as it represents the non-regulated form of underage work, it falls into this „open space“ where everything that’s not forbidden is allowed, which requires special care and concern. This applies to children's participation in artistic events or events organized for similar (traditional or highly commercialized) purposes.
Although ILO Convention No. 138 states that children under the age of 15, as a rule, should not participate in professional art events, the need for their involvement in these events can be acceptable in exceptional cases, provided that the responsible authority approves each individual case. It is therefore important that the practice of recruiting children, no matter how socially acceptable it might seem at first glance, be qualified as child labour, with awareness that it can produce quite negative consequences, without adequate protection of children. In addition to protecting health, safety, morals and education of children participating in artistic or similar events, it is important to ensure effective measures to prevent their exploitation and to prevent placing them at a disadvantage, regarding working hours or compensation. In addition, there is a need to establish a minimum age for recruitment of children in this field, e.g. 14 years of age, unless the work involves an acting role or a dancing role that cannot be performed by an older person.
ILO Convention No. 138 (and the general standard of the minimum age of 15) does not apply to work in schools and the work organized in companies. However, there is a need to regulate situations, as part of formal courses and training programs, where the work of minors is related to education or training, even when it’s not fully integrated into the formal school curriculum. Since Serbian legislation on education regulates only the involvement of pupils in relation to teaching, in order to perform the so-called expanded activities of the school (i.e. services, manufacturing, sales and other activities that “contribute to a more rational and effective education”), there is a need to regulate other situations where the work of minors is only indirectly related to education or training.
However, when it comes to the rules on authorised employment of minors, there is a need to regulate, in addition to the form of consent for employment of a minor and the circle of persons authorized to provide such consent, through the Labour Act the phase of employment in which the parent or other legal guardian may give consent for the employment of a minor. It should precisely be established if the consent of the legal guardian represents permission or approval, or a tacit or explicit ratification of the concluded employment contract. There is also a need to regulate employment in case of conflict between the interests of the child and that of the parents, as well as the matter of consent of a parent who does not exercise parental rights. These issues should be regulated to provide the necessary protection of personality of minors and their interest to, on the basis of a freely chosen profession and employment, earn a living and to develop their personality through work, while simultaneously respecting the rights and duties of parents to ensure the child the best possible education, upbringing and career choice.
Finally, there is a need to improve control over the implementation of regulations relevant to the prohibition of child labour, as the punishment of persons who employ minors contrary to legal prohibitions and restrictions - provides long-term benefits that society reaps from special protection of minors. This is why it’s important to strengthen the inspections in this field, by granting additional powers to the labour inspectors and by establishing the obligation of employers to keep separate records on minor workers. There is also a need for a dedicated involvement of the social partners to create the conditions for effective protection of minors at work and in connection with work. Also, implementation of ILO Convention No. 182 requires adoption of national list of activities which, by its nature or the circumstances in which they are carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children (its draft was made in 2016 by Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Affairs).
With the developments of recent years, "influencers" have appeared in social media. Influencers usually specialize in a specific field or industry, such as beauty, fashion, fitness, travel or food, and are known for their expertise, creativity and originality. They create and share content on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, using their platforms to build a network of loyal followers and establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective fields. Influencers partner with brands to promote products or services to their followers through sponsored posts or collaborations. These partnerships can be profitable for both the influencer and the brand as they can increase brand awareness, drive sales and build brand loyalty, who are in reality celebrities or not who market various products, services and in this way they influence people. Every day more and more influencers have been added in our country, as well as in other countries, and children are included in their work. It has already become normal or tradition for an influential woman to open an "account" for the newly born child, publish photos/videos of the child and gradually start advertising various baby products, influencing the masses. The practice of "kidfluencing" raises ethical concerns about the commodification of childhood, to be seen as products, and for their rights. This is the object of treatment in this paper. Through which it is intended to analyze the rights that are violated to the child and the harmful effects for the child from the "kidfluencing" practice. This topic critically examines the moral dilemmas and challenges in regulating child abuse practices from the perspective of ethics, child welfare and legal protection of the child's best interests, analyzing the implications of the commodification of childhood and the potential harm it can cause. Received: 2 June 2024 / Accepted: 25 July 2024 / Published: 29 July 2024
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is one of the few international conventions on children’s rights that has been signed by almost all UN member states. It is therefore necessary to assess the extent to which the drafting of a constitutional clause on the rights of the child deviates from the usual practice of constitutional drafting, and various structured approaches are discussed.
The chapter suggests that, in addition to the CRC, a specific provision should be included in each country’s constitution to give visibility to children as rights holders instead of actors in need of protection. A simple adoption of the CRC is not sufficient in modern constitutions. Principles such as non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right of the child to life, survival and development, and the right of the child to be heard in all decisions affecting them are discussed in detail.
The second part of the chapter focuses on the rights of older persons and persons with differing abilities. Unlike the protection of children, the rights of older persons are not directly protected in the general human rights conventions, but the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides a comprehensive framework. The chapter shows that international safeguards currently do not provide consistent protection for older persons. Some guarantees may provide protection against discrimination on the grounds of ‘other status’, which includes discrimination on the grounds of age, while others contain an explicit prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of age, as do several national constitutions.
The purpose of this study is to accomplish three things: (1) to determine the manner in which child labor is exploited; (2) to identify the ecological elements (push and pull) that contribute to the exploitation of child labor; and (3) to determine the challenges that are associated with the management of child labor. It is possible for adults to exploit children through the use of child labor in a number of vocations, including those in the agricultural industry, the garment industry, manufacturing, mining, service industries, and the informal sector. Children's employment is influenced by a number of environmental factors, such as poverty, a dearth of educational possibilities, and a lack of awareness regarding the rights of children. The study discusses a number of elements that operate as pushes and pulles, as well as barriers, that could be encountered when attempting to address the problem of child labor.
Yeni Nesil Terör Örgütleri, Fethullahçı Terör Örgütü FETÖ/PDY, Yeni Nesil Terör Örgütleriyle Mücadele Yöntemleri, Yeni Nesil Terör Örgütleriyle Mücadele Kapsamında Türk Ceza Kanunu, Terörle Mücadele Kanunu ve Ceza Muhakemesi Kanununda Yapılması Gereken Düzenlemeler
Çocuk işçiliği; ekonomik, sosyal, psikolojik, hukuksal açıdan ele alınması gereken çok boyutlu ve önemli bir konudur. Bu çalışmada, ülkemizde çocuk işçiliği alanında yazılmış lisansüstü tezlerin bütünsel bir biçimde ele alınması ve çeşitli açılardan incelemesi amacı ile çocuk işçiliği konusunda yazılmış lisansüstü tezlerin bibliyometrik analizinin yapılmıştır. Bu kapsamda “çocuk işçiliği”, “çalışan çocuk”, “çocuk emeği”, “çocuk istihdamı”, “çocuk işgücü”, “çalıştırılan çocuk” anahtar kelimeleri kullanılarak ülkemizde çocuk işçiliği konusunda yazılmış YÖK Ulusal Tez Merkezi veri tabanında kayıtlı ve erişime açık olan 193 lisansüstü tez belirlenmiş; belirlenen tezler sayısı, yılı, üniversitesi, anabilim dalı, türü, dili, araştırma yöntemi ve araştırmanın yapıldığı bölge değişkenlerine göre incelenmiştir. Çocuk işçiliği ile ilgili 1992-2022 yılları arasında 163 yüksek lisans, 22 doktora, 8 uzmanlık tezi yazıldığı belirlenmiştir. Bu konuda yazılan lisansüstü tez sayısının yıllara göre giderek arttığı belirlenmiştir. Konu hakkında 61 farklı üniversitede ve 51 farklı anabilim dalında çalışma yapıldığı görülmektedir. Tezlerin anabilim dallarına göre dağılımı ele alındığında 40 tez ile çalışma ekonomisi ve endüstri ilişkilileri anabilim dalının çocuk işçiliğine yönelik en fazla çalışma yapılan alan olduğu dikkat çekmektedir. Bu anabilim dalını sosyal hizmet ve sosyoloji anabilim dalları takip etmektedir. Yapılan lisansüstü çalışmalarda uygulama alanı olarak en çok İstanbul ilinin tercih edildiği sonucu ortaya çıkmıştır. Tezlerin %90,2 oranında Türkçe yazıldığı belirlenmiştir. Tezlerin %56`sında nitel araştırma yöntemleri, 39,4`ünde nicel araştırma yöntemleri, %4,7 oranında nitel ve nicel olmak üzere karma araştırma yöntemleri kullanılmıştır.
Human trafficking is a multi-faceted crime. It suffers from definitional and implementation problems. One facet, the focus of this book, is the transnational nature of much of the crime, and the need for practitioners to operate across borders to combat it. Europe has taken a distinctive approach to cross border law enforcement and judicial cooperation, which could be used as a model in other areas of the world. This publication examines these problems from a Council of Europe and European Union perspective, including the now post-Brexit UK. The UK has adopted a distinctive approach to legislating and operationalising its Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) legal frameworks, also legislating for "slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour", resulting in distinctive results in internal UK law enforcement. It is argued here that this approach and the results should inform THB legislative and operational developments more widely. Further action in legal and operational frameworks is, however, clearly needed and the book advocates the adoption of a human security "freedom from fear" approach. Ultimately, the interaction of different legal frameworks, and different jurisdictions require transnational practitioners to adopt a constructivist approach, as was adopted for the development of the internal EU Area of Freedom Security and Justice.
This chapter follows the preceding chapter, focusing upon the international legal regulatory framework implemented to address human rights, slavery, and human trafficking between 1926 and 2000. Grappling with the definitional conflicts and contestations over trafficking and slavery and their subsequent influence upon child trafficking. Through an intricate analysis of the Trafficking Protocol and the relevant articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children (OPSC) the chapter will seek to illustrate how contemporary fears of the anti-trafficking machine have led to an international anti-trafficking instrument that conflicts with and undermines the central ethos of the CRC. Through utilising Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), this chapter seeks to centralise the issues of Western centric logic that underpins, shapes and informs the rights of children in the discussion of child trafficking.
This chapter serves as a foundation stone for the subsequent interrogation of the various international legal responses to the trafficking of children. Through introducing the contested notions of childhood and children’s rights this chapter contextualises the Euro-American bias of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. Providing an overview of the Guiding Principles of the CRC, as the issue of agency serves as an integral tool to dismantle and challenge the role of Western perspectives of mobility, vulnerability, and the ‘other’ in relation to the development of the anti-trafficking machine. The chapter will introduce “children on the move” and illustrate how international law has struggled to respond to these phenomena. Identifying the popular image of the “trafficked child” and how fears of prostitution, migration, and the other have influenced contemporary law and policy globally.
The ideological function of the postcolonial 'national', 'liberal', and 'developmental' state inflicts various forms of marginalisation on minorities, but simultaneously justifies oppression in the name of national unity, equality and non-discrimination, and economic development. International law plays a central role in the ideological making of the postcolonial state in relation to postcolonial boundaries, the liberal-individualist architecture of rights, and the neoliberal economic vision of development. In this process, international law subjugates minority interests and in turn aggravates the problem of ethno-nationalism. Analysing the geneses of ethno-nationalism in postcolonial states, Mohammad Shahabuddin substantiates these arguments with in-depth case studies on the Rohingya and the hill people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, against the historical backdrop of the minority question in Indian nationalist and constitutional discourse. Shahabuddin also proposes alternative international law frameworks for minorities.
For a long time, the GATT led a life of its own as a self-contained regime. The evolution from tariff to non-tariff barriers brought about increasing overlaps with other regulatory areas. WTO rules increasingly interface with other areas of law and policy, including environmental protection, agricultural policies, labour standards, investment, human rights and regional integration. Against this backdrop, this book examines fragmentation in international trade regulation across a wide array of regulatory fields. To this end, it uses a conceptually coherent theoretical framework which is based on the effort to bring about greater coherence among different policy goals and fields, and thus to embed the multilateral trading system within the broader framework of international economics, law and relations. It will appeal to those interested in a forward-looking discussion of the most pressing issues of the international trade agenda.
Written under the sign of Beckett, this book addresses comparative law's commitment to the deterritorialization of the legal and its attendant claim for the normative relevance of foreign law locally in the fabrication of statutory determinations, judicial opinions, or academic reflections. Wanting to withstand the law's persistent tendency towards nationalist retrenchment and counter comparative law's institutional marginalization, the fifteen essays at hand impart radical and discerning intellectual equipment in order to foster the valorization of the legally foreign and the comparative motion. In particular, the critique informing this manifesto examines pre-eminent topics like culture and difference, understanding and translatability, objectivity and truth, invention and tracing. Harnessing insights from a range of disciplinary discourses, this book contends that comparatists must boldly desist from their field's dominant epistemology and embrace a practice much better attuned to the study of foreignness.
Since rules - legal, ethical or otherwise - cannot determine their own application, they require persons of flesh and blood to interpret and apply them in concrete cases. Presidents and prime ministers, judges, prosecutors, mediators, leaders of international organizations, and even religious leaders and public intellectuals make decisions on how best to understand rules and how best to apply them. It stands to reason that their character traits influence the sort of decisions they take. This book provides the first systematic framework for discussing global governance in terms of the virtues, and illustrates it with a number of detailed examples of concrete decision-making in specific situations. Virtue in Global Governance combines insights from law, ethics, and global governance studies in developing a unique approach to global governance and international law.
Over 500 000 people work in the Polish catering industry. Most of them work seasonally or at weekends. Students and young people represent the majority of the employed staff. The Polish HoReCa branch is growing intensively mainly due to them. Most guests can enjoy a pleasant time in the growing number of restaurants.
Unfortunately, personal relations in Polish bars and cafes are very tense. Most of the team members work in the black economy or on the basis of civil law contracts. They work overtime, 12 to 16 hours a day, without a single break, for weeks and months. They do not obtain holidays or time off from work. Restaurants restrict the work opportunities of people with disabilities, pregnant women, parents. The salaries are at the same time very low and not always paid regularly. The catering industry limits business costs through the reduction of the costs of employee engagement. This is a perfect example of the Polish precariat.
The sociological and legal study was based on interviews with employees of catering facilities in several major Polish cities. The comparison of the employees’ stories with the legal condition of Polish and international labour law indicates the very negative legal and practical condition of employment in the HoReCa industry.
z Türkiye'de iş kanununda çocuk ve genç işçilere dair düzenlemeler uluslararası normlara uygun olarak şekillenmiştir. Ancak mevzuatta iş kanunu kapsamında olmayan çocuklara yönelik düzenlemelerdeki farklılıklar çeşitli sorun alanları ortaya çıkarmaktadır. Çalışan çocukların büyük bir kısmının çalıştığı işler bakımından iş kanunu kapsamı dışında kalması da sorunu derinleştirmektedir. Bununla beraber çalışan çocukların tabi oldukları kanunlardaki düzenlemelerin farklılık arz ettiği ve çalışan çocuklara eşit bir yaklaşım içeren uygun bir standart düzenlemenin varlığının söz konusu olmadığı görülmektedir. Bu kapsamda çalışmanın temel amacını çalışma hayatında çocuk emeğinin kullanımından kaynaklanan sosyal hukuk sorunlarının neler olduğu oluşturmuştur. Çalışmanın sonucunda ise çocuk işçilere yönelik düzenlemelerin ortaya çıkardığı sorun alanlarının çocuk emeğinin sömürülmesine yol açtığı ve çocuk işçilerin sorunlarını derinleştirdiği görülmüştür. Anahtar Kelimeler Çocuk, Çocuk işçiliği, Çalışan çocuk, Sosyal hukuk Abstract International norms have largely shaped Turkish labor law regulations for children and young workers. However, various regulatory problem areas have emerged from the number of children not covered by the labor law legislation. The fact that the scope of labor law protections excludes most working children exacerbates the problem. Nevertheless, differing regulations governing working children are problematic as there is no appropriate standard regulation with an equitable approach to working children. This study examines the social law problems arising from using child labor in working life. The findings show that the lack of standard regulations for child labor leads to child labor exploitation and intensifies child labor problems.
This book analyses all relevant questions of State responsibility and attribution arising from the conduct of rebels and governments in the context of civil wars and rebellions aiming at the establishment of a new government or the creation of a new State. Based on a comprehensive analysis of both old and recent State practice, and case law, including investment awards, as well as the works of scholars and the International Law Commission, the book identifies ten basic rules which can be used by States and international tribunals. It explains the history, content and scope of application of the specific solutions adopted in Article 10 of the International Law Commission Articles on State responsibility to address particular problems. The book also critically revisits some of the solutions that have been put forward by tribunals and scholars, and examines a number of questions which have never been addressed by them before.
This book traces the emergence and contestation of State responsibility for rebels during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. In the context of decolonisation and capitalist expansion in Latin America, it argues that the mixed claims commissions-and the practices of intervention associated with them-served to insulate economic order against revolution, by taking the question of who assumed the risk of harm by rebels out of the scope of national authority. The jurisprudence of the commissions was contradictory and ambiguous. It took a lot of interpretive work by later scholars and codifiers to rationalise rules of responsibility out of these shaky foundations, as they battled for the meaning and authority of the arbitral practice. The legal debates were structured around whether the standard of protection against rebels owed to aliens was nationally or internationally determined and whether it was domestic or international authority that adjudicated such standard-a struggle over the internationalisation of protection against rebels.
Biology is an important school subject to students who aspire to be scientists. Trends of students’ performance in external examinations indicated that less than 50% of candidates usually pass the subject at a minimum of credit level. Empirical studies on the causes have focused largely on teachers’ ineffectiveness and inadequate learning and teaching facilities. The extent to which home, school participation and students’ engagement in child labour activities contribute to underachievement in senior secondary school biology have not been well investigated especially in a structural equation modeling context. Therefore, an 18-variable structural equation model comprising variables of home (parents’ location, cultural value, educational background, employment status, occupation, income, family type and size), child labour (timing and frequency of labour, parents’ attention to students’ need and provision of learning materials), school participation (punctuality, attendance, home and class assignment) and students’ achievement in biology was developed. This was with a view to establishing causal relationship among the variables and to determine the direct and indirect effects of each of the variables on students’ achievement in biology.
Ex-Post facto design was adopted for the study. Three states- Ogun, Osun and Oyo- were randomly selected from among states that have state capitals with distinct urban and rural areas. The selected capitals were stratified along location (urban/rural), while 21.0% of the secondary schools from each location were selected randomly. Twenty five senior students who engaged in academically detrimental labour activities were randomly selected from each sampled schools. Six validated instruments, namely Cultural Value (r=0.73) and Parental Involvement in Students’ Academic (r=0.71) questionnaires; Socio-Economic Status (r=0.68), School Participation (r=0.78) and Labour Participation Screening (r=0.85) scales and Biology Achievement Test (r=0.81) were developed. Data were analysed using Pearson product moment correlation and Path analytical procedure of Structural equation modeling at 0.05 level of significance.
Among home variables, educational background (r=0.67), cultural values r=0.28), parental location (r=0.16), occupation (r=0.08), income (r=0.05) and family size (r=-0.02) had significant relationship with students’ achievement in biology. From the child labour variables, students’ frequency (r=-0.35) and timing (r=-0.16) of participation in detrimental labour activities had significant relationship with students’ achievement in biology. Attendance (r=0.45), punctuality (r=-0.34) and class assignment (r=0.31) were school participation variables that significantly influenced achievement in biology. The model fit of Chi Square (χ2 (df=97)=113.72 which is an indication of good fit, with Goodness of fit index of 0.94, Normed fit index of 0.95 and Comparative fit index of 0.99 was established. Moreover, 77% of the causal effects in the model were direct effect, while 23% were indirect.
Educational background, cultural values, parental location, and timing and frequency of participation in detrimental child labour activities inhibited students’ achievement in biology in the south – west, Nigeria. Therefore, parents should be enlightened on the negative impact of child labour on students’ academic achievement and other school activities.
International Status in the Shadow of Empire - by Cait Storr August 2020
This Training Manual on Child Labour in Afghanistan aims to equip trainees with the knowledge and skills to combat all forms of child labour, including its worst forms in Afghanistan. This Manual is expected to enable the stakeholders, such as the government, social partners, UN organizations, NGOs, private sector and civil society organizations to have uniform knowledge and the skills needed to better address the problem of child labour through a multi-sectoral approach, and thus help the children of Afghanistan.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) 1989 has been celebrated for its universal acceptance. However, questions still arise around its prov-enance and representation. In particular, the Convention is deemed to enshrine Western notions of childhood upon which its rights were constructed. However, the legacy of the colonial contours of the new world order are often excluded within the context of children's rights. It has been suggested that the new imperialism brandished under the guise of "children's rights" serves as an effective tool to "beat" the Global South, deflecting from the continued Western dominance within the field of children's rights. This paper interrogates the power dynamics and colonial legacy upon which views of children are formed, centralising the multitude of issues in the arena of children's rights in the wake of what can be identified as Hokusai's wave.1
In the light of growing legislation on company disclosure of ecological and social information such as the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd Frank Act) from 2010, the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the recent EU Directive 2014/95/EU on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups (CSR Directive) and its German implementation act (CSR-RUG), this article seeks to assess the contribution of company disclosure laws to improving human rights performance of companies and reducing poverty. Put more generally, can disclosure law actually trigger a change in behaviour? It begins by recalling why we need sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) laws, then discusses key issues of the CSR Directive and the German implementation act, looks into some practice and will draw some conclusions. Its main thesis is that the first step of companies on their way to acting socially responsibly is to know and show their environmental and human rights impacts. Thus, company disclosure laws of non-financial information can be a valuable first step towards more sustainability if designed in the right way.
Child labour remains a widespread problem around the world. According to global estimates published by the International Child Labour Organisation in 2017, 152 million children can be regarded as child labourers and 73 million children are in hazardous work. Despite many efforts to reduce child labour in global supply chains, children are still involved in either manufactured or agricultural products for export. This article is based on the assumption that in order to solve this problem, global solutions including trade measures are needed. Analysing some key legal issues relevant for the WTO law-compatibility of trade measures on child labour, it submits that under the current status of WTO law, some trade measures on child labour may be found to be WTO law-consistent. However, it holds that an ILO-WTO implementation mechanism de lege ferenda would be a more effective solution to combat child labour. In this context, the article briefly discusses new approaches to international law and argues that the constitutional approach to international law will help to provide answers how such a new governance framework for the issue of trade and child labour should be shaped.
This paper offers a brief history of labour standards in international trade regulation, recalling that negotiations have not yet materialised achieving a stronger nexus. Yet, efforts to bring about linkages with non-trade concerns have been developing in WTO dispute settlement. The paper discusses the implications of EC - Seals and expounds and the relevant passages of the reports of the Panel and the Appellate Body. In applying deference to the notion of public morality and in applying standards of necessity and a balance of interests involved, the paper argues that the case is of paramount importance in assessing the policy space of Members of the WTO in establishing closer linkages between trade and labour standards.
The relationship of jus cogens and international economic law has largely remained unexplored, despite close linkages at the inception of jus cogens when slave trade and slavery was banned. The paper expounds the potential of international economic law for the realisation and enforcement of jus cogens, in particular of core labour standards and basic human rights. The right to protect ordre public values in international trade and investment law by means of import restrictions and conditioning investment by host states, respectively, provides an important basis to enforce values protected by jus cogens. However, recourse to process and production methods (PPMs) and conditionalities does not reach jus cogens in a comprehensive manner, and additional remedies need to be developed in international economic law, in particular relating to corporate social responsibility and finance and monetary affairs. Questioning the fundamental civil law distinction of jus cogens and jus dispositivum, the paper submits to conceive jus cogens as a matter of Common Concern of Humankind and to conceptualise protection and enforcement under this emerging doctrine, obliging states to cooperate but also take unilateral action if necessary.
Are international fisheries heading away from open access to a global commons towards a regime of property rights? The distributional implications of denying access to newcomers and re-entrants that used the resource in the past are fraught. Should the winners in this process compensate the losers and, if so, how? Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, in whose gift participatory rights increasingly lie, are perceptibly shifting their attention to this approach, which has hitherto been little analysed; this book provides a review of the practice of these bodies and the States that are their members. The recently favoured response of governments, combating 'IUU' - illegal, unregulated and unreported - fishing, is shown to rest on a flawed concept, and the solution might lie less in law than in legal policy: compulsory dispute settlement to moderate their claims and an expansion of the possibilities of trading of quotas to make solving the global overcapacity issue easier.
It is commonly assumed that transnational activist networks have greater power to compel state and private sector actors to address rights-based grievances as networks grow and activists gain greater visibility in the mass media. However, evidence from case studies of transnational mobilization suggests that the opposite may hold true under given circumstances. This article examines the struggle for an independent union in the Tijuana-based Han Young welding facility, which in 1997 and 1998 became one of the most important tests to date of labor law and institutions across the U.S.-Mexico border. Drawing international press, the Han Young factory conflict eventually drew in national labor unions, a multinational corporation, state governments, the U.S. and Mexican congresses, powerful private-sector lobbies, Mexican district courts, labor secretariats, national and regional media in Mexico and the United States, and eventually then Mexican president Ernest Zedillo and then U.S. president Bill Clinton. Despite the prominence of the case, however, the Han Young struggle ended in almost total defeat for labor. Evidence from the Han Young case suggests that as conflicts become more complex and drawn out, transnational activists' real influence may decrease, as redress of particular demands requires increasingly complex and surgical interventions to resolve problems. When conflicts implicate internecine power struggles among government actors, solving problems requires confrontations not only over social demands, but also over implementation of agreements when they are reached.
Human Rights Quarterly 19.3 (1997) 572-629
My sister is ten years old. Every morning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her.
I don't care about school or playing. I don't care about any of that. All I want is to bring my sister home from the bonded labor man. For 600 rupees I can bring her home -- that is our only chance to get her back.
We don't have 600 rupees . . . we will never have 600 rupees.
--Lakshmi, nine-year-old beedi roller, Tamil Nadu. Six hundred rupees is the equivalent of approximately seventeen US dollars.
"Bonded child labor" refers to the phenomenon of children working in conditions of servitude in order to pay off a debt. In India, there are an estimated fifteen million bonded child laborers, and possibly more. The debt that binds them to their employer is usually incurred by a parent, and ranges on average from 500 rupees to 7,500 rupees, depending on the industry and the age and skill of the child. The creditors turned employers offer these "loans" to destitute parents in order to secure the child's labor at an extremely low rate of pay. Typically, the parents accept the loans in order to meet subsistence needs, pay for funeral or marriage costs, or replace income lost due to illness or death.
Children sold into bondage work long hours over many years in an attempt to pay off the debts that bind them. Due to the astronomically high rates of interest charged and the abysmally low wages paid, they are usually unsuccessful. As they reach maturity, some of them may be released by the employer in favor of a newly-indebted and younger child. Many others will pass the debt on, intact or even higher, to a younger sibling, back to a parent, or to their own children.
As much as 85 percent of Indian bonded child labor is in agriculture. The balance is found in domestic and export industries and in the informal service sector. Industries with significant child bondage include silk, beedi (hand-rolled cigarettes), silver jewelry, synthetic gemstones, leather products (including footwear and sporting goods), handwoven wool carpets, and precious gemstones and diamonds. Services where bonded child labor is prevalent include prostitution, hotel, truck stop and tea shop services, and domestic servitude.
Poverty, while significant, is only one of many factors that contributes to bonded labor in India. Other elements include: an ancient tradition of slavery and debt bondage; the lack of small-scale loans for the rural and urban poor; the lack of a concerted social welfare scheme to safeguard against hunger and illness; a noncompulsory and grossly inadequate educational system; the lack of employment opportunities and living wages for adults; an ossified stratification of occupations, with little opportunity for upward mobility or intergenerational career changes within families; corruption and indifference among government officials; and endemic societal apathy. A final, omnipresent element is the caste system, which is closely intertwined with debt bondage.
Notwithstanding the prevalence of the practice, child debt servitude has been illegal in India since 1933, when the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act was enacted under British rule. Since Independence, a plethora of additional protective legislation has been put in place. There are laws governing child labor in factories, in commercial establishments, on plantations, and in apprenticeships. There are laws governing the use of migrant labor and contract labor. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 regulates work hours and conditions for all child workers and prohibits the use of child labor in certain enumerated hazardous industries. (There is no blanket prohibition on the use of child labor, nor any minimum age set for child workers.) The most significant legal protection, for both adults and children in servitude, is the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, which strictly outlaws...
This paper examines features of child labor in an area of high economic growth in western India. Growth was associated with an increase in the number of child workers over the last 15 years. The analysis shows that children work at simple repetitive manual tasks that do not require long years of training or experience. The work is low-paying, involves drudgery and is hazardous. Work forecloses the option of school education for most children. In this context, I argue that economic growth alone is not sufficient to eradicate child labor.
While protesters took to the streets in the Battle in Seattle demanding greater accountability from international institutions, such as the WTO and the IMF, and the end of an "era of trade negotiations conducted by sheltered elites balancing competing commercial interests behind closed doors," the Supreme Court began wrestling with a similar problem of balancing governmental and popular interests. In trying to determine whether the Massachusetts Burma Law was such an irritant to foreign relations that it impinged upon the federal government's foreign affairs powers or whether the state was simply exercising its rights to chose how to spend its citizens' tax revenues in the marketplace, the Court, like the WTO and the IMF, grappled with a new balance between governmental interest and democracy-a new federalism in a global era. As the Chair of the AFL-CIO International Affairs Committee declared in the wake of the Seattle protests, "Globalization has reached a turning point. The future is a contested terrain of very public choices that will shape the world economy of the 21st century". The new communication technologies embodied in the Internet are fueling the globalization of the world economy. Ironically, the same tools that create these worldwide opportunities for businesses are also revitalizing an old strain of anti-corporate and anti-colonial sentiment while providing the ability to present these concerns in new ways. The protests in Seattle highlighted this other view of globalization, which harkens back to the old debate between the "win-lose" view of trade-the notion that "First World" wealth is obtained at the expense of the Third World-as opposed to the "win-win" view of trade embodied in the theory of comparative advantage. ia The protests addressed a number of different issues, going well beyond human rights in Burma to encompass concerns ranging from the environment to labor issues. While pervasive distrust of corporate power and regulatory institutions in the global marketplace is a common and familiar theme, the extensive use of the Internet to mobilize and communicate the protesters' positions on the "contested terrain of very public choices" is entirely new. The Burma example illustrates how the power of the Internet gives these popular concerns new currency in the marketplace, consequently requiring adjustments in how governmental institutions respond to the issues.
The thesis presented by Philip Alston, according to which the ILO 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work may undermine what he calls the `International Labour Regime` (ILR), lacks a clear and coherent methodological framework. This article thus tries to assess more systematically the concrete impact of the Declaration (a) on the achievement of fundamental rights themselves and (b) on other workers` rights. As regards (a), Alston`s claim that the Declaration`s reliance on `principles` rather than on specific provisions of ILO instruments has an undesirable impact on the realization of fundamental workers` rights ignores contrary evidence, particularly: (i) more states have ratified the relevant ILO conventions since the Declaration, and compliance therewith has been improved; (ii) for those states which have still not ratified, the process of dialogue and technical cooperation inherent to the follow-up mechanism has generated some tangible progress - though it is recognized that this mechanism may still be improved in the light of experience. As regards (b), the ILO`s capacity to make effective other workers` rights is subject to obvious constraints. However these limitations are inherent to the ILR; they have nothing to do with the Declaration. On the contrary, the Declaration and its follow-up represent an added-value for their promotion, particularly because fundamental rights are enabling rights and their increased application gives greater possibilities for workers all over the world to `claim` other workers` rights, and because the follow-up to the Declaration provides a model and a precedent for a possible use of Article 19 of the ILO Constitution for the universal promotion of rights dealt with in relevant conventions and recommendations, even in the absence of ratification. Some recent developments, in connection with the `decent work` agenda, suggest that this possibility may no longer be a matter for mere speculation.
It is clear that there is no consensus about how to think about labour standards, even when narrowed to the core. Part of the problem is that there are simply too many available arguments. All too often arguments of one sort are met with a reply based on a completely different set of concerns. As a result, debate is not joined. Using Hirschman (1991) as a guide and Davidson (1984) as the inspiration, several sorts of arguments are separated, often deployed in connection with international labor standards debates: (1) the human rights argument, (2) efficiency arguments, (3) collective action arguments, (4) arguments from sovereignty, (5) pragmatic arguments, (6) arguments from policy consistency, (7) institutional arguments, and (8) rock bottom arguments. Each argument is discussed in detail.
The relationship between the international law of trade and the international law of human rights has commanded an increasing amount of scholarly attention in the past few years, perhaps spurred by the well-known events at Seattle in 1999. This article offers some reflections on this relationship, focusing on the permissibility under international law of imposing trade sanctions against nations that commit violations of international human rights. Part I begins with some reflections on the historical relationship between these two bodies of law. Part I also considers why the human rights community appears to feel threatened by the international trade system, and not the other way around. Part II considers whether, under current trade norms, trade concessions may be suspended in response to human rights violations. Part III turns to the normative question: how should the WTO address human rights? Oxford University Press 2003, Oxford University Press.
This article examines the compliance of unilateral trade sanctions designed to promote human rights abroad with GATT trade liberalization principles. Using examples from US trade measures, the article defines unilateral human rights sanctions as falling into three categories: tailored, semi-tailored, and general sanctions. The article then evaluates the compliance of these three types of sanctions with the GATT text and recent WTO interpretations. It argues that while the GATT appears to preclude many unilateral human rights trade measures, particularly those involving semi-tailored and general sanctions, the GATT text reasonably can be read to accommodate certain human rights sanctions. These include those targeting human rights and labor violations that occur in production of goods for export, GSP measures, restrictions on military technology, and general trade measures targeting jus cogens violations such as genocide. The article concludes that such an interpretive approach to the GATT is necessary in order for trade liberalization to develop consistent with fundamental human rights norms and the broader substantive requirements of the international legal system. Copyright Oxford University Press 2002, Oxford University Press.
Minimum labour standards and international trade: would a social clause work?
- Van Liemt G.