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Child
Labor
Bonded child laborer working in brick kiln factory
(Photo taken by
Mathias Heng during a Mission funded by the Society.
Copyright Mathias Heng).
Child labor tends
to be thought of as a 19th century evil that has now
been eradicated. The reality is that, throughout
the world, the labor of millions of children still
occurs, often in conditions as horrific as the factories
of 150 years ago. These children are forced to
engage in back-breaking labor in stone quarries, brick
kilns, construction sites, and other hazardous
occupations.
There
are now estimated to be 200 million child laborers in
the world. This is today’s world of nine year old coal
miners and eight year old prostitutes, and of little
girls who work 12 hour shifts in sweatshops.
In
most of these sweatshops, they are forced to eat, sleep
and work in the same stuffy, overcrowded room.
Girls rescued recently from one Bangkok sweatshop were
forced to work in strict silence from 6 am to
midnight. They were mercilessly flogged for
breaking the rules.
These
children are robbed of their childhood, they have to
toil up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
The material in this report is based on Missions to West
Africa, southern and eastern Africa, South Asia and
South-East Asia by the Society's Secretary-General, by
members of the Society's Board of Governors and by the
Society's Program Directors for South Asia and
South-East Asia.
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Further
Information
For
more information, read the Society’s
publications entitled Myths and Facts About
Child Labor ($2.90) and Survey of Child
Labor in Asia ($15.50). Prices include
postage.
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Links
to other pages dealing with this issue:
Different
forms of child labor
Children in the carpet weaving industry
Rugmark
rugs and carpets
Goods
made by child labor
Child
soldiers
Society's
overseas programs in Africa and Asia
Internet
links:
Child
miners in Bolivia toil in mines
The
Society is not responsible for the content of external
internet links
sites. |
