Child labor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Child labor - Essay Example Many children along with their parents suffered life-threatening injuries – punctured eyeballs, scarred legs and missing limbs – from the sharp blades and machines in the field. (Buckley para. 1, 2 http://www.commondreams.org/views/031600-102.htm) Several child laborers experience harsh living conditions. They are locked, sometimes chained, in crowded rooms for long hours like prisoners. Many develop illnesses and diseases like silicosis and tuberculosis. Some are kidnapped and later sold to flesh traders as slaves. Employers at times abuse the children by beating them, branding them with hot irons like livestock, torture them, or deprive them of food. In worst cases, they get killed while at work. (Kalmes para. 6 http://www.ilstu.edu/~jnassar/child.html) Probably the major cause of child labor in some, if not all, of the countries is poverty and underdevelopment. Child labor makes it a necessity for economic advancement. Another problem is the differences in culture. For example, some Hindi societies have a natural division of labor called castes, and because children are better at tasks that need little to no experience, they are deprived of schooling and are made to work instead. Furthermore, putting a stop to child labor does not assure a better life for the child. These children, and their families, work to live. This circumstance might push them to enter dangerous jobs. (Kalmes para. 3 http://www.ilstu.edu/~jnassar/child.html). One of the causes of child labor may be in relation to the global market. Third World countries prefer to use child labor to fit their economies. Because of globalization and the growing economic condition worldwide, the demand for exports in the developing countries increased. To provide an adequate supply for that demand, however, these countries have opted to find cheap labor to cut production costs, and this