Stolen Childhoods, Part 1

Recently, I watched a documentary titled Stolen Childhoods produced and directed by Len Morris. The film is the first to focus on the enormous problem of global child labor. The film features the stories of children forced to work in stone quarries and brick kilns in Nepal and Pakistan, carpet shops in India, jamals (fishing platforms) in the Sea of Sumatra off the coast of Indonesia, Coffee fields in Kenya, dumps in Brazil, tobacco plantations and the streets (prostitution) in Mexico, and even farms in the United States. Also included are interviews with people from around the world who understand the problem of child labor, and are working to eliminate it including Tom Harkin (U.S Senator), Bruce Harris, Pharis Harvey, Inderjit Khurana, Wangar Maathai (2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner), and Kailash Satyarthi.

I was previously aware that child labor existed in certain parts of the world, but had no idea of the shear magnitude of the issue. Worldwide, it is estimated that 246 million children are subjected to slave and bonded labor. 246 million. To put that in perspective, 246 million is approximately the population of the United States.

Why? Why are people choosing to force children to work? Why are governments and law enforcement agencies turning a blind eye?

In a word - money.

The pursuit of making money is the driver for business owners to force children into labor, because children will work hard for little or no money, increasing their profit margin. Lack of money is the reason families around the world 'sell' their children to business owners. When faced with the prospect of allowing their entire family to starve, or to give up one child so that they may feed their other children, parents are forced to choose the lesser of two evils and lose a child to labor. In some cases, older children make the choice on their own - they leave their home in pursuit of work so they can help their otherwise desperate and impoverished families. Kickbacks and payoffs keep governments from intervening. Lending 3rd world countries money to help alleviate the poverty that drives child labor has also served to perpetuate the problem.

From 1996 to 1999, corrupt officials in the Kenyan government mismanaged funds leant to Kenya by the IMF and World Bank. Because of the strict repayment schedule outlined in the loans, Kenya was left with no money, little resources, and a huge national debt. The Kenyan government initiated its own economic recovery strategy, which includes sharing the debt with the public in the form of charging families to send their children to school. Many families are unable to pay and are forced to take their children out of school and send them to the coffee fields, where they are forced to work long hours, are exposed to dangerous, cancer-causing pesticides, and earn very low wages. The problem is amplified by the greed of the businesses that purchase the coffee (many of them American). These businesses conspire to keep the amount they pay to Kenyan farmers low, while continuing to increase the mark up on the sale price (as much as 4000%).

Aside from inhumane and moral problems with enslaving children to work, it is important to consider the long term effects that child labor has on a community. When poor countries turn to forcing children to work an economic downward spiral occurs. Adult workers are replaced with children, putting the adults out of work and with little or no means for providing for their basic needs. The children forced into labor are removed from school and offered very little or no education. Eventually the children grow up and are left with no education and no real skills. In addition, children enslaved to work are not afforded an opportunity to develop mentally and emotionally, and are left with little self-worth and other conditions caused by years of neglect and abuse. This cycle repeats and, over time, the country digresses and communities lose their ability to support themselves.

Stayed tuned for part 2 of this series, where i will discuss what you can do to help.