Myths on Child Labour


               FOUR WRONG NOTIONS ABOUT CHILD LABOUR

1. Child labour is only found in poor countries.

While it is true that in underdeveloped coountries, child 
labour in found in large nos .But it is also true that child
is prevalent in almost all countries.For example,if in a 
developed country some children before going to school sells
newspapers for one or two hours,very few people view it as 
child exploitation, even though that child might be getting 
a fraction of what is being paid to an adult for the same 
job. It is true that in most of the rich countries too,child
labour takes place. Often the exploited ones are the 
minority or immigrant children.


2. Child labour is only found in the industries. 

It is true that the child labour in the industries is the
most visible layer.While it is also true that children in 
Pakistan make footballs in factories , but we cannot ignore
the lakhs of child labourers who work in unorganised sector
where they face equal or greater dangers.In truth, only 5.4%
of  child labourers work in industries. If we fall into the
fallcy that the most exploited children are the ones who 
work in factories then we are doing injustice to those whose
labours are practically invisible.


3.Child labour can be removed by legislation.

Thi is not true.Legislation  has proved to be a notoriously 
difficust thing to enforce. Therefore,it has not been
effective. Every country has by now passed many laws 
against child labour.How far has this helped ? The truth is
in front of us in the form of milllions of child labourers
in existance all over the world.


4. Without removing poverty we cannot solve the problem of child labour.

While it is true that most of the child labourers come from
poor families, the fact is that it is am employers 
willingness to exploit children which is at the root of the
problem. However a poor a family is they will be no problem 
regarding child labour unless there are people  who are 
willing to exploit such children.