Child Labour In The World Today Essay

, Research Paper

Many wrong situations are happening in the world today. Some we may know of and others we may not. The reason that we do not know of some of these situations is because they are happening clear across the globe. Many are happening in third world countries in Asia and Africa. One of the wrong doings that stands out is child labour. This stands out because making children work for ten or more hours a day with very little food is not morally correct. What kind of people would do such a thing, but just sitting here and reading about it and thinking, ?That is just wrong,? is not going to change anything. So despite all the wrong some people manage to make a difference.

Child labour is a real problem today in our society. Many children are taken from their homes and families to work in sweatshops and other factories. Some children work 16 hours a day in cotton mills with very little food and in terrible conditions. Some children are even taken from their families. Their families sell them to factories so they can make a living. A good example of this is about a boy named Jitti. His parents sold him to a leather factory just so the family would survive. This following quote was printed in ?CHILDVIEW? by world Vision Canada ? February/ March 1995, ?Although he hates the job, he can?t quit because his family depends on his earnings.? Does that sound like Jitti?s family loves him. Rosie Baroquillo is a nine-year-old child that works on a sugar cane field. She has worked there for two years so that her family could buy food but the money that she earns is not enough to buy food. Her father has dead because of this. Child Workers in Asia (CWA) printed the following quote by Rosie in ?The Working World of Children.? It reads, ?I am Rosie Baroquillo. I started working on the sugar cane field when I was seven years old. Now I am nine and I still work in the field. I stopped going to school because my family could not afford to spend the money. My father is already dead. The money I earn is not enough to buy food. I am tired and hungry doing my work in the field. I wish I could have soup to go with the rice I eat because without soup it is hard to swallow.? We have to start fighting against child labour.

Many people and organizations are helping children escape form the labour. Craig Kielburger is one person who has dedicated his life to save these children. Craig is only 17 but he is making a big difference. When he was thirteen years old he started the organization call Free The Children. This organization fights for the rights of children who almost live or are slaves. He made speeches about the cruelty of child labour, raised one hundred thousand dollars, and built a group of fifty kids, ages eight to fourteen, who wanted to help. He got started in this because he was reading a

news article about a boy in Pakistan whose parents sold him for sixteen dollars to a rug weaver. When the boy escaped and complained he was killed. Craig said, ?It really upset me.? He cares so much that he paid a visit to South Asia to help rescue some children from a carpet factory. One of the children showed him the deep scare across the boy?s head when the loom master struck him with an iron bar. Another child said that he went to bed crying every night because he missed his mother so much. He wouldn?t cry during the day because the loom master would beat him for not doing his work. What Craig has done to start eliminating child labour completely was he went to the U.S. capital to gain momentum on saving the children. He also talked with Prime Minister Jean Chretien and changed the way Canada looks a children?s rights. If everyone were as caring and kind as Craig the world would be a much better place to live.

People do wrong things all over the world and we are the ones that have to fix it, but some people may think, ?How am I going to make a difference? One person can?t change anything,? and for the people that think that, you are wrong. Just one person can make a difference. Craig did and he was only thirteen years old when he started Free the Children. If a thirteen year old can start making a difference then other people can finish it. If one was at a bank and a guy come in to rob the bank and you just stall the guy for a second or two until the police come the person has made a difference. So if one can stop a burglar than one can start saving children for slavery. Not just slavery too, anything such as sexual harassment and husbands beating on their wives. The point is is that if we as a society start fixing the wrongs than the earth will be a better place.

Many young and old people are put into wrong situations in the world today. Some situations one may never heard of or knew about. Know that we are entering into the twenty first century we have to start caring a little more about what is happening around us and change what is wrong. That is what Craig and his organization, Free the Children, are doing and hopefully one may learn from what Craig is doing to change how people in the world think.

1.Mollins, Carl. ?Youth power: a children?s crusader makes a splash. (Craig Kielburger, 13-year-old founder of Free the Children, visits Washington, D.C.)(Brief Article).? Maclean?s May 13, 1996: p 39

2.Author Unknown. ?Let Kids Live Free! Meet A Fighter For The Rights Of All Children.? Time for Kids Mar. 15, 1996: p 7

3.Morris, Nomi. ?Craig Kielurger. (Child rights activist)(The 1996 Honor Roll).? Maclean?s Dec. 23, 1996: p 46+

4.Kieburger, Craig. Free the Children. Homepage. Dec. 14, 2000. Jan. 4, 2001. (http://www.freethechildren.org/)