CHILD OPPRESSION AND THE WAY AHEAD
Children are the future. They are those who have the potential to create a better world. They are those who will be facing the repercussions of our environmentally detrimental actions in the manifestation of climate change. They will need to come together and work together to manage the crisis of the future. But how do we expect them to be compassionate and united when they themselves have never been treated with love, with compassion. Children do not only deserve human rights but also some special rights on account of their vulnerability, yet they are deprived of even the basic human rights.
Today, not only are they forced to become laborers but also recruited by terrorists. What makes it all worse is the lack of Government actions to prevent these children from becoming exploited labor and to salvage them from terrorists and rehabilitate them. 2021 has been declared as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor by the United Nations. It is definitely a good initiative in light of the current Covid-19 pandemic which has caused significant harm to all economies across the globe.
In the wake of the pandemic, massive job losses are bound to occur. As people lose jobs, more parents, especially those who were living just above the poverty line before the pandemic, will pull their children out of schools as the job losses push them back into poverty. A subsequent rise in the number of children being pushed into child labor would also increase as people face income constraints. Even when the jobs subsequently recover with economic recovery, the jobs lost in the formal sector will probably be recovered in the informal sector. This means that these people, being employed in the informal sector will not be protected by any form of social safety net and hence might suffer from job instability. Consequently, their children might suffer from instability of education. They may be pulled out of schools as and when any income crises on account of job losses happen.
As per the Global Estimates of Child Labor(2012–2016) published by the International Labor Organization, on any given day in 2016, 156 million children aged 5–17 were employed as child labor. Of these 73 million were employed in hazardous work and 48% of 156 million were in the age range of 5–11 years. Africa hosted the maximum number of child laborers. It is imperative to mention here that Africa is also likely to face the brunt of cuts in global welfare spending being sent to it via Europe and the United States of America. While as per the report there was a constant decline in the number of child laborers from 2000 to 2016, the pandemic may cause it to reverse. We also need to understand the vicious cycle of conflict and child labor. As per this report, African nations are also the ones that have the highest numbers of both, conflicts and child laborers. Also, it becomes important to note that as per the report children in the age group of 15–17 are not called child laborers because they fall under the minimum working age but because they are vulnerable to the physical and psychological implications that such work may have on them. This shows that conflicts lead to a higher number of child laborers, which in turn leads to a higher number of adults with little or no education and deteriorated mental health. Such adults are more likely to engage into conflicts making the cycle come full circle.
Another serious threat to children and their rights is terrorism. Involvement of children in terrorism is disheartening. Seeing children being radicalized poses troubling questions before us. From January to August 2017 as many as 83 children committed terrorist attacks in Nigeria. Most of these attacks were in Boko Haram of Nigeria. The Nigerian Government’s response to this has been to put the women who had somehow managed to escape the terrorist groups into rehabilitation programmes where they are kept away from their families and those they love, including the children they had while they were a part of the terrorist group. What impact is this likely to have on the child’s and the mother’s mental health? Should we treat these children as terrorists or victims of terrorism?
This isn’t the way ahead. These children need to be taught better, to be treated in a better fashion. They need to be loved. They need to be allowed to blend back with society. International laws, treaties, and conventions need to be formed and resolutions need to be adopted and implemented against terrorists and those forcing children into labor. Laws and policies promoting equality and providing basic human rights to everyone need to be passed. But, the way ahead cannot comprise just laws. Child rights can only be realized in their true sense if awareness is spread among the masses. People should be made aware of the rights that children have. They should be made aware of the helplessness and vulnerability of the children who are not perpetrators but victims of crime, of terrorism. Only with awareness and mass support can those governments who are unwilling to work for the cause of child rights can be brought about to do so. Only then can coercive and oppressing regimes fall to give way to those who are democratic and respectful of the rights of all humans. Only then can certain wrongful governments be forced to cut covert funding to terrorist groups being done by governments of certain nations for their geo-political interests. Only then can this world become a place conductive for the growth of children who not only respect and fight for the rights of their descendants but also come together to fight collectively against climate change and strive for greater world collaboration for sustainability.
By Sidharth Badlani
