Child Labour: Is International Activism The Solution or The Problem?
Monday, 12 October 2009 Rich-country governments and consumer groups pressure poor countries to discourage child labour through boycotts and international labour standards. Yet child labour continues unabated. This column suggests international activism may be partially to blame, because reducing the use of child labour in the formal sector decreases domestic pressures to prohibit it throughout the economy. Ever since children toiled in the mines and factories of Britain during the Industrial Revolution, industrialisation and economic development have stirred humanitarian concern about child labour. The first child-labour regulations (the British Factory Acts of the early 1800s) were aimed at the appalling working conditions children suffered in textile mills. Another source of social concern was the conflict between child labour and educational opportunities. The campaign against child labour gained steam throughout the nineteenth century, and by the early twentieth century most indus
