Effects of Child Labor

The effects of child labor are vast and often have lifelong impacts. When a child is forced to work instead of going to school, they are deprived of more than just education.



Stunted Development

While childhood is a formative time of development, this development is often stunted for those in child labor. Cognitive development—their ability to learn, explore and reason—is hindered as well as relational development. When kids are in school, they learn to interact with their peers and develop friendships. When children are put in the workforce, this relational development often does not happen. Many of the children involved in child labor were born into poverty and have no way of escaping to a better life. They are not qualified or equipped for other jobs. Therefore, the poverty cycle continues.


Physical Injury

Children in labor industries are often seriously injured or they do not correctly develop physically. The International Labor Organization estimates there are 2.78 million work-related deaths annually and 374 million injuries and illnesses each year. According to ILO Director-General Guy Ryder, “Children and young workers are at greater risk and suffer disproportionately and with longer-lasting consequences.”1 The World Bank agrees. They estimate that 10 percent of all child labor-related injuries are crushing accidents, amputations and fractures.2 Children who work in agriculture often encounter pesticides and other chemicals that cause lasting harm to them as children or later in life. Manufacturing jobs often endanger children with toxic substances and solvents.


Trafficking

Children involved in child labor are at risk of being trafficked, especially if they are walking long distances for work or taking dangerous routes. UNICEF states, “Children on the move risk being forced into work or even trafficked – subjected to violence, abuse and other human rights violations.”3 The 30 million children who work outside of the country of their birth are at serious risk of trafficking, either for sexual exploitation or as a wartime soldier.

Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Attitude Towards Suffering

Image
In 2 Timothy 2:3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Everyone, at some point or another, faces suffering, the soldier especially. However, it is not so much what we suffer, but how we suffer that matters. The way our heart responds to suffering is crucial, because by it we will either advance or become stagnant. To suffer like a good soldier is to willingly endure all for the sake of the call. To suffer like a bad soldier is to grumble when difficult situations and hardship arise. Instead of throwing our lives into what God has called us to, we can try to hold on to our lives, wanting to get away with as little suffering as possible, paying as little price as possible. We have forgotten that we are under the orders of our Master and that we willingly gave up our lives. Christ’s Example of Suffering Christ lived with the expectation of suffering. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly referred to ...
Read more

What Is the Poverty Cycle?

Image
The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...
Read more

Where Can I Learn How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?

Image
There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...
Read more