Does Child Labor affect Youth Rights?

Today, in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) an important discussion arose: does child labor affect a child’s rights? Nearly 1 in 10 children are subjected to child labor worldwide, some of which are forced into hazardous work through trafficking. Most oftenly, child labor occurs mainly due to families facing financial challenges or uncertainty whether during poverty, illness, or job loss.  

Anonymous interviews were conducted on the topic and an anonymous source stated that in their policy, children aged from 6-14 are prohibited from labor, which was reviewed by the government. However, this age must be increased as 14 is still such a young age, and due to child labor there are constant drop-outs in school. Furthermore,  despite these laws, 53% of girls grouped 5-9 are completely illiterate due to the forced child labor and different areas still invest in child labor due to poverty. As a delegate, their country values education highly and disapproves child labor as it generally affects a child.  

Child labor leads to several mental and physical harm, such as the constant exposure of dangerous chemicals or machinery, loss in educational opportunities, exploitation, and restricting their healthcare access. This overall leads to a restriction to their fundamental rights.  

Several implementations have been made to protect a child and their rights and the anonymous source mentioned that their country has established the Child  and Adolescent Labor Prohibition and Regulation act made in  1986 that is still followed to this day. Also, UNICEF works to prevent and respond to child labor by strengthening the social service workforce, who play a role in recognizing and managing the risks that can lead to child labor. Furthermore, they focus on strengthening education and address any harmful norm that leads to child labor. They also aim to prevent violence and exploitation and those removed from labor are safely sent back to school and homes.

Finally, UNICEF aims to increase children’s quality of education and keep them protected with their families. Child Labor is an ongoing issue today and such implementations are vital to maintain and keep every child’s rights intact and unbreached.