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Monday, January 17, 2011

why childrens cry increses

What is child labour?
Among adults the term “child labour” conjures up a particular image: children chained to looms in dark
mills and sweatshops, as if in a long nightmarish line running from Lancashire in the 1830s right through
to the South Asia of today.
In reality, children do a variety of work in widely divergent conditions. This work takes place along a
continuum, from work that is beneficial, promoting or enhancing a child’s development without
interfering with schooling, recreation and rest to work that is simply destructive or exploitative. There are
vast areas of activity between these two poles.
It is at the most destructive end, where children are used as prostitutes or virtual slaves to repay debts
incurred by their parents or grandparents or as workers in particularly hazardous conditions, that efforts are
focused to stop such abuse.
Who is a child labourer?
The term “child labour” generally refers to any economic activity performed by a person under the age of
15, defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) of the United Nations. On the beneficial side of
the continuum, there is “light work” after school or legitimate apprenticeship opportunities, such as
helping out in the family business or on the family farm. At the destructive end is employment that is
· Preventing effective school attendance;
· Hazardous to the physical and mental health of the child.
Are age limits for work the same in all countries?
Almost everywhere, age limits formally regulate children’s activities — when they can leave school,
marry, vote, be treated as adults by the criminal-justice system, and join the armed forces — and when they
can work.
But age limits differ from activity to activity and from country to country. The legal minimum age for all
work in Egypt, for example, is 12; in the Philippines, 14, in Hong Kong, 15. Peru adopts a variety of 3
standards: the minimum age is 14 in agriculture; 15 in industry; 16 in deep-sea fishing; and 18 for work in
ports and seafaring.
Many countries make a distinction between light and hazardous work, with the minimum age for the
former generally being 12, for the latter usually varying between 16 and 18. ILO conventions adopt this
approach, allowing light work at age 12 or 13, but hazardous work not before 18. The ILO establishes a
general minimum age of 15 years, provided 15 is not less than the age of completion of compulsory
schooling. This is the most widely used yardstick when establishing how many children are currently
working around the world.
Box:  Marie
Marie is a seven-year-old from Haiti. She is a restavek — Creole for rester avec — the local term for a type
of child domestic found all over the world, one who has been handed over by a poor rural family to live
with and provide domestic “help” for a usually urban, wealthier family.
She gets up at five in the morning and begins her day by fetching water from a nearby well, balancing the
heavy jug on her head as she returns. She prepares breakfast and serves it to the members of the household.
Then she walks the family’s five-year-old son to school; later, at noon, she brings him home and helps him
change clothes.
Next, she helps prepare and serve the family’s lunch before returning the boy to school.
In between meal times she must buy food in the market and run errands, tend the charcoal fire, sweep the
yard, wash clothes and dishes, clean the kitchen and -- at least once a day -- wash her female boss's feet.
She is given leftovers or cornmeal to eat, has ragged clothes and no shoes and sleeps outdoors or on the
floor.
She is not allowed to bathe in the water she brings to the household. She is regularly beaten with a leather
strap if she is slow to respond to a request or is considered disrespectful. Needless to say, she is not allowed
to attend school.



Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labour was utilized to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts ofworkers' and children's rights.

In many developed countries, it is considered inappropriate or exploitative if a child below a certain age works (excluding household chores, in a family shop, or school-related work).[2] An employer is usually not permitted to hire a child below a certain minimum age. This minimum age depends on the country and the type of work involved. States ratifying the Minimum Age Convention adopted by the International Labor Organization in 1973, have adopted minimum ages varying from 14 to 16. Child labor laws in the United States set the minimum age to work in an establishment without restrictions and without parents' consent at age 16.[3]
The incidence of child labour in the world decreased from 25 to 10 percent between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank

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