Running Head; CHILD LABOR IN HUMAN RESOURCE SECTOR 1
Child Labor in Human Resource Sector
Christine Bosire
Liberty University
11th May 2018
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Abstract
The international Labor Organization (ILO) defines child labor as any kind of work that
deprives the child their dignity, childhood and may result to physical injuries to the child. Child
labor may also socially, morally and mentally interfere with the child as well as interfering with
their schooling. As child labor remains an internationally recognized vice in the HR sector, the
cases of child labor are still worrying from all over the world. Although international HR policy
frameworks and legislations exist to guide effective recruitment, there still exist gaps that must
be looked in to. This paper aims at critically analyzing the existing literature and HR policy
clauses on child labor with an aim of identifying the gap to fulfilment of no-child labor in human
resource sector. The paper also aims at looking into annotating the overall trend of child labor in
human resource management based on the existing publications.
Key Terms: Child Labor, Human Resource, Hiring.
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Child Labor in Human Resource Sector
Research studies by Ab-Rahim and Tariq (2017), indicate that child labor is one of the
greatest challenges affecting not only the child progress across the globe but also the Human
Resources relations across the globe. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO),
child labor accounts for approximately 169 million children aged 5-17 years. The studies indicate
that these children are not only working for few hours but are actively engaged in these activities
for a relatively long period. Bertrand, and de Buhr (2015), noted that such trends end up
compromising their health as well as their opportunities for education. In fact, more than a half
of these children are often engaged in hazardous activities that continue to pose a great risk to
their lives as well as health. While ILO provides a decreasing trend, research evidence continues
to show that millions of the global children continue to work in these deplorable conditions in
both the developed and developing nations.
The persistent and increased scale of child labor represents a major barrier to the
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals that are set for 2030. These goals comprise
reduced inequality in job creation, eradication of poverty as well as decent and quality learning.
The increased trend of child labor is inconsistent with these targets as children are directed
affected. Furthermore, Alzola (2018), noted that such form of work violates the rights of
children, deny them freedom as well as act as a source of vulnerability to their potential learning
programs. On the other hand, GiamPietroCipriani (2015), explained that apart from exposure to
high risks of injury, these children are denied a chance to acquire human capabilities, knowledge,
skills and competencies that are critical to helping them expand their choice and opportunity.
Bertrand and de Buhr, (2015), further noted that children who are exposed to these vulnerable
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working conditions are most likely to break the education that they may need to secure a decent
work and continue with the transmission of poverty across the generation.
According to the majority of HR documentaries, a number of nations, extensive child
labor has acted as a great barrier to national development since it erodes human capital which is
quite important for economic growth. Bertrand and de Buhr (2015), in their work noted that
children who are trapped in a high level of child labor are always trapped in a great cycle of
deprivation of essential issues pertaining to their lives. This trend indicates that both lack of
education and early exposure to labor are harmful to the progress of children across the globe.
They make these children to be exposed to some of the activities that may not be able to improve
their lives except to harm their fundamental rights. It has been noted with a lot of concern that
despite the increased level of extensive child labor, the wages that are provided to these members
are usually quite little to accommodate any decent work. This implies that any decision to take
children to these forms of child labor does not only violates their rights but also a distressing
choice that is aimed at an achieving a minimum wage. Therefore, at all cost, it should be
avoided.
While carrying out their research, IOMA's Payroll Manager's Report (2011), tried their
best to discuss the major factors that could be resulting in the escalating levels of child labor.
According to their results, they noted that poverty was the number one factor that was increasing
the level of international child labor. They noted that children from developing nations or the
ones living in slum areas were most likely to be involved in child labor as compared to the ones
from developed nations living in posh areas. For instance, in Bangladesh, most of these children
who are involved in child labor are driven by economic hardships that they continue to face in
their lives. This trend has made most of their parents to make economic decisions to involve
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them in labor with the aim of improving the household income. Despite their continued
involvement in these activities, research studies have continued to suggest that such labor does
not always have any form of improvement to the overall living standards of such households.
Instead, the trend only continues to elevate the negative poverty progress thus making both the
family as well as the nation vulnerable to any economic development.
Tabatabaei, Labaf, and Ghorbi, (2017) in their work further noted that some education
system also increases the level of child labor by creating a supply of potential recruits. In most of
the developing nations with poor education system, always expose these children to labor having
accumulated a limited number of years while schooling. On average, Williams, (2015)
acknowledged that these members always enter the world of work with only 4 years of
schooling. That is the average child who enters such employment contract are only 14 years and
may have not completed their basic training on numeracy and literacy skills. Late entry, grade
repetition and poor quality of education also contribute heavily to the increasing number of
children involved in child labor. Furthermore, the current education policies have always set
ambitious goals to a majority of these children thus making them vulnerable when they fail to
meet the targets, therefore, at all cost, the trend should be mitigated and children provided with a
reasonable learning environment to help them achieve their goals.
It has been noted with a lot of concern that child trafficking has also contributed to the
high level of child labor in some of the nations. For instance, girl-child trafficking in countries
such as Nigeria has resulted in quite a number forced labor and prostitution as well as human
sacrifice. Unlike the slave trade, that used crude methods to traffic these members of society, the
Nigerian approach has exceeded these strategies as most of the children are exposed to some of,
the horrific and inhuman circumstances. This means that they are exposed to these horrific
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circumstances during the raid as well as in the labor. Most of the families agree to the move as a
sign of relief to the economic hardship that they continue to face in their lives. Nevertheless,
despite this move, child trafficking affects the education of most of these children and continues
to create a number of problems in their lives. These challenges are not limited to physical harm,
psychological torture as well as denial of fundamental basic rights (Tabatabaei, Labaf, and
Ghorbi, 2017).
According to research studies, child trafficking for forced labor is completely a new
phenomenon that has erupted in most of the nations across global nations. These are Nigeria
Mali and Saudi Arabia. The most vulnerable groups to the child trafficking are girls as compared
to the group. One of the major reasons why such trends have continued to occur is the negative
Nigerian culture which believes that educating girls is a waste of resources, instead, they should
be married or dumped elsewhere to act as a source of wealth to the members of the family.
Therefore, they are either trafficked or given to men who are ready to marry them in the urban
areas to enable them to generate income for the family members. In terms of education, only
boys are required to continue with their education programs since they are regarded as important
custodians of the family inheritance. To continue with the program, women are always denied
the rights of achieving education hence making them continue being vulnerable to child
trafficking and any other form of forced labor (Sinha, 2012).
According to one of the critical surveys that were conducted in Bangladesh, it was noted
with a lot of concern that most of these children involve themselves in child labor at an average
age of 11 years with the girls possibly starting at an early age. According to the reports it was
noted that most of these children engage in child labor to help in supplementing the family
income. Other members were much concern with the supplementing their school debts while the
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rest felt that they were not good students thus got more comfort in working in these areas.
Despite their reasons for involving in the child labor, not all children made it as a personal choice
to involve in the activity but instead, some were forced by their parents or guardians. This was
most common on girls who were portrayed as the important source of wealth to the Bangladesh
community. In fact, the trend was not quite different from the Nigerian child trafficking that
made most of the girls vulnerable to the practice.
In Ivory Coast, it was noted with a lot of concern that child labor was one of the greatest
concerns, especially among the Coco growing farmers. In 2000, the United States of America
through their department of state reported an overwhelming number of Malian children who
were employed in the Ivorian coffee and coco plantations. The report stated that over 15,000
children majorly of 12 years and below were sold to the indentured servitude at approximately
$140 (Putnick, and Bornstein, 2015). They were later subjected to the poor working condition
and were they paid an estimate of $189 per year. In fact, according to the reports, it was noted
that most of these children were not only from Mali but also other nations such as Burkina Faso
and Togo. The documentary further suggested that forced labor was prominent among these
members as children of less 6 years prompted to work on these farms. This trend forced the
media to Ivorian government to blame the international cocoa industry for involving in such
activities. The United Kingdom through their embassy forced the West African nations to sign a
treaty of establishing a clear framework on the best ways of combating child labor. This
approach together with many more promoted the cocoa industry to reassess their sphere of
operation and their responsibility towards human rights in the cocoa production process.
Child labor has been observed to be quite common in agricultural sector especially where
cash crops are being grown. According to the Western African culture, any child who is above 14
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years is allowed to work as long as the work does not have any negative impact in their lives.
Moreover, the region has a history of economic migration with children forming the special part
of the group. During such form of migration, children are often made as important members who
can offer supplementary labor to help in promoting the family income. In fact, such acts of
allowing the children to get involved in such kind of jobs are regarded as a common norm.
Nevertheless, these practices are always carried out under insufficient legislation and
enforcement thus making most of these children vulnerable to both the hard labor and physical
problems. This implies that cultural attitudes play an important role in the promotion of child
labor. Therefore, any program designed to help these children must take care of every cultural
aspect of the West African nations. That is, such approach will play an indisputable role in
promoting the abolishment of child labor (Mudzongo, and Whitsel, 2013).
Based on the above facts, it is clear that child labor is immense and adversely affects the
overall HR management programs. The ILO estimates indicate that over 250 million children
worldwide of 5-13 years are employed as either full or part-time labor. In Africa alone, most of
these children comprise approximately 20% of the workforce (Williams, 2015). In fact,
according to these reports, it was noted that a confluence of factors contributes to these issues.
On the economic perspective, it was noted that hard economic times always push most of these
members to persevere the hard labor to supplement their family income. To promote the extra
income, it was noted that children provide some of the perfect cheap labor to most of the family
farms and businesses thus enabling parents to earn extra income. Ab-Rahim, and Tariq, (2017) on
their work further demonstrated that high fertility rate among the families promoted most of the
members to send their children to work and provide the extra meals that may be required to feed
the high number of these members. Child trafficking was more prone in families which had more
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than 7-8 children. In fact, the trafficking was made to ease an extra burden that most of these
children were creating in the family. Unfortunately, most of these children who were being
trafficked had low level of education.
As a result of the above child labor challenges, several Human Resource organizations
have developed various approaches to help in dealing with these deplorable conditions. For
example, the present international pressures have continued to push for the various national
governments to improve their labor laws. According to their research Alzola (2018), it
discovered that most of the international labor laws are still wanting as they do not cover a
comprehensive approach that cares for the core labor standards. For this reason, most of the
national governments have marked some of the failures in enforcing labor standards dealing with
children. This approach has resulted in the suffering of most of the children in different areas of
their working stations. One of such approach that is expected to improve the position is through
improving the labor standards. According to the WTO and other important proponents, they
believe that providing core labor standard, most of these organizations will have been able to
understand the fundamental human rights. That is, no such organization will be able to accept the
employment of under-aged people in their firms.
According to the reports that were conducted by ILO, it was noted that the gaps between
the school enrolment and the drop out were relatively high. Therefore, it was recommended that
education was another central approach to solving these challenges. According to their research,
they noted that poor approach to education was the main reason why most of the children were
involved in child labor. Therefore, breaking the link between child labor and education was one
of the critical approaches to achieving decent lives among these vulnerable children. According
to WHO reports, it was noted that providing education to these children was critical in promoting
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their overall capacity to secure better jobs. This approach should be made through improving
education on both genders on both primary and secondary education. Furthermore, it would be
critical to improving the enrolment rate by providing all the children with the opportunity to join
the basic and tertiary education. Schooling in all these levels will help to improve the overall
performance of these children in both the skilled and semi-skilled issues of production.
On the other hand, this Human Resources management in their performance seeks to
promote core labor standards by seeking that every member of the organization adopts some of
the most critical forms of conventions that care for every person within the labor cycle. In their
opinion, these members believe that the implementation of these important conventions will
result in the provision of best labor standards that by degrees will lead to better labor standards.
Presently, there are a total of 181 conventions that care and aims to care for a number of issues.
The US is the greatest proponent of the best approaches to improving the labor standards. As a
member, America has been at the forefront of improving labor standards, freedom, and care for
the fundamental basic human rights. The main agenda is to correct the widespread violations of
labor standards even in nations that are not within the conventions. In fact, their aggregate idea is
to improve the overall labor standards and prevent any form of violations against children is
expected not only to promote the standards but also to increase the profits within the firms.
Finally, based on these facts, it is high time for ILO as well as other concerned human
resource firms to make every best approach to improve the labor standards and accommodate
only adults in the different economic sectors. In fact, every organization should be compelled to
oblige by the required labor standards and deny any form of employment on children. This
approach will help to take care of the escalating levels of this challenge and provide a new hope
to present generation.
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