Essay Sample: The American Impact on Child Labour

Childhood, one of the most precious gifts we are given.  The youthful ignorance we radiate, untouched by the hardships of life or the dreary air of responsibility, is a time we long for again as we age.  The freedom we are guaranteed in the United States, since the passing of the Fair Labour Standards Act in 1938, preserves our youth, ensuring all have the opportunity to live their nonchalant childhood to their hearts desire.  As sad as it is, this freedom is not universal.  Youth all over the world are still fighting to this day for this freedom, as 1 in 10 children worldwide are currently being exploited as some form of child labour.  This is not a lost cause, many organizations exist to help combat child labour such as UNICEF, ILO (internation Labour Organization), and ALLANICE 8.7 (A UN Branch Spcifically working on Child and Slave Labour), but these organization cannot end child labour on their own.  They receive support from many large first world countries, and now it is our turn to step in.  We have had the privilege of living our childhood without the fear of forced labour, and with our aid, we can ensure a childhood much like ours to children all over the world.

In 2000 the internation labour organization first started monitoring and collecting data on child labour all over the world.  They found that a staggering 250 million kids were part of the child labour force, with african countries leading at almost 1 in 6 youth affected.  After this was discovered nations all over the world came together and up until 2016 94 million children were freed, with huge progress made in asia particularly south eastern Asia.  Unfortunately this trend slowly stopped as we hit a plateau, with more and more children being exposed to exploitation in remote areas or areas with little to no law and government intervention.  Since 2016 the number of childern in child labour has gone up.  Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies have put 8.9 million children worldwide back into the child labour force.  The U.N. declared 2021 the year to end child labour, and Alliance 8.7 guidlines have goals to end child labour by 2030.  With all of these factors combined, we as North Americans, privileged with a protected childhood away from exploitation, should feel a responsibility to help by putting our best foot forward, and most importantly as a nation getting involved, follow other countries who have made an impact in their own borders or aiding other countries.  It would be narcissistic of us to turn a blind eye to an issue this large.

One of the first steps that can be taken to end child labour, requires very little in terms of resources or labour from us.  Simple background checks on companies importing goods into North America would reduce the amount of children exploited.  Although monitoring every item and evey factory supplying items into the United States would be impossible, many major suppliers have very minimal surface level background checks done on them in accordance with Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 which prohibits the importation of merchandise produced, in whole or in part, by prison labor, slaves, or forced labor of children. These companies although clean of child labour themselves may have companies that supply them parts or even whole products manufatured/produced by children.  In some rare cases entire companies will be made to cover up child labour by acting as the company producing the product to american buyers, while children are busy making the product behind the scenes.  These poor background checks are encouraging these companies to exploit the youth for cheap labour, as their product is making it into the U.S. and our consumer run markets.  Items that often and have been linked to child labour that make it into the U.S. are coal, gold, clothes, and many food products such as rice, sugarcane, coffee, etc.  Some experts believe that almost 50% of these products combined shipped from overseas contained some form of child labour involvment.  This staggering number is proof that a stronger background check and a more revised tariff and laws on the importation of goods could reduce the amount of childern exploited for child labour.

When it comes to caring for others as a high income first would country the united states is rarely first mentioned.  As a global leader in GDP and other economical factors we should disappointed we don’t aid others.  One country that has a strong history over the last 50 years in aiding other countries is germany.  One of the first countries to take action in the fight against child labour, it is esimated that germany has contributed almost 1 billion (USD) over the last 20 years.   

Although these terrible child labour issues exist outside our borders, a just as dangerous and sadly legal form of child labour exists within our borders.  In the U.S. 300,000 – 800,000 children work on farms across the United States according to the National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc. (NCFH).  These children work much harder and longer hours typically than other kids their age. The U.S. Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs child labor in the United States, provides no minimum age for children working on farms with their parent’s permission. Children may work for hire on any farm with parental consent from age 12, and there are no legal limits on the hours children can work in agriculture outside of school. Children are also free to do agricultural work that the U.S. Department of Labor deems “particularly hazardous” for children at the of age 16 (and at any age on farms owned or operated by their parents).  By comparison, outside agriculture, children must be at least 16 to work, with a few exceptions: 14- and 15-year-olds can work in specified jobs, subject to restrictions, and for no more than three hours on a school day and eight hours on a non-school day. Children cannot do hazardous work until they reach age 18, even jobs such as driving a forklift that they could do legally on a farm at 16. What is more, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, which govern the use and application of pesticides, make no special consideration for children. Revisiting laws like these would help. Talk about child labour in countries mining litium - how americans know childern are doing this work but turn a blind eye to it.