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Summary: The One World Centre was established in
1986 to enhance 'mutual understanding
of social, cultural, economic,
political and environmental conditions
in both a local and global context'
(OWC, Memorandum of Association). Stephen McCloskey
One World Centre for Northern Ireland
The One World Centre was established in 1986 to enhance 'mutual
understanding of social, cultural, economic, political and
environmental conditions in both a local and global context' (OWC,
Memorandum of Association). In furthering this aim, the Centre has
promoted Development Education in the formal and non-formal education
sectors in the North of Ireland to illuminate the links between our
own society and the wider world. Through the deliveiy of training,
organisation of educational activities and dissemination of
information the Centre has sought to enhance knowledge, develop
skills, and influence attitudes and values consistent with the aims
and philosophy of Development Education. The United Nations defines
Development Education as "enabling people to participate in the
development of their community, their nation and the world as a
whole" thereby stressing the need to promote sustainable development
at both local and global levels.
Over the past decade the One World Centre has challenged commonly
held perceptions and stereotypes of developing countries which are
prevalent in the developed or industrialised world. Such
perceptions are in many ways a consequence of the largely negative
and facile reporting of developing countries by the Western media
which enables us to formulate easy and simplistic conclusions as to
the causes of poverty and inequality in the 'Third World'. Natural
phenomenon such as droughts and floods, climatic interventions
leading to famine and the displacement of peoples, and internal
conflict causing heavy civilian casualties are among the main factors
which the majority in industrialised countries accept as creating
what UNICEF describes as the 'silent catastrophe' known as the 'Third
World'. The reality, of course, is much more complex and therefore
more difficult to project to those already imbued with the more
readily digestible conclusions disseminated by the media. The One
World Centre aims to enhance public awareness of issues central to
the development of communities in the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres such as children and employment with the support and
expertise of partners from the developing world. We acknowledge that
poverty, inequality and injustice are not monopolised by developing
countries and accept the need to examine such issues from a local as
well as a global perspective.
Child labour is a development issue which is largely identified with
countries in the Southern Hemisphere and regarded as a symptom of the
widespread poverty found within developing countries. We would prefer
to accept in the industrialised world that child labour is a social
phenomenon found only in African, Asian or Latin American countries
from which children in Europe, North America and other developed
societies are immune. This publication aims to challenge that
stereotype and outline the main causes and effects of child labour in
both the developed and developing worlds whilst also highlighting the
positive aspects of child employment which many of our contributors
acknowledge. I wish to stress at the outset however that the One
World Centre is not attempting to compare like for like in this
publication, and suggest that the extent or most acute forms of child
labour prevalent in developing countries also exist in our own
society. The severest forms of child labour as found in textile
factories, brick kilns, and sweat shops which exist in some
developing countries are not normally found within industrialised
societies. Nevertheless, the enclosed research findings presented by
Leonard and Pinkerton on children and employment in the North of
Ireland clearly highlight the need for detailed empricial enquiry
into this issue locally which is one of the primary reasons for the
One World Centre's compilation of this publication.
The main aim of this publication is to encourage debate on the issue
of child work in the North of Ireland and galvanise action from
statutoiy and non-statutory bodies alike in assessing the extent of
the child labour problem in our society and then addressing the
manifold aspects of this complex social issue. It is clear from the
enclosed contributions of Leonard and Pinkerton that detailed
empirical evidence is required to ascertain the number of working
children in the North of Ireland, the range of jobs in which they are
employed, the age groups concerned, and the effects of employment on
their health, academic achievement and psycho-social development.
Leonard, Pinkerton and McKechnie suggest that children employed for
an excessive number of hours per week can under-perform academically,
be prone to absenteeism from school, or leave school at the earliest
possible opportunity. Moreover, children engaged in hazardous forms
of work can be subject to injury or long-term health problems.
Psychological problems can manifest themselves in children denied
adequate play time to interact with their peers because of their
number of working hours. Given the social, psychological, health and
educational aspects to the issue of child work it would appear that a
multi-agency, inter-departmental approach is required from the
statutory and non-statutoiy sectors in order that this issue be
adequately addressed.
All of the contributors to this publication stress that children must
play a full and participative role in any initiative aimed at
arresting the growth of child labour at loc~il, national and
international levels. There are examples enclosed of government
agencies and the private sector combining to force children out of
employment and into more hazardous occupations, domestic drudgery or
the furthest margins of society. Children must be consulted and given
a pivotal role in the drafting of any new legislation aimed at
governing their employment. Positive examples of this happening in
practice are given in Reddy's account of children's Panchayats in
Karnataka, India. Both Reddy and White concur on the need to consult
with children in the drafting of the new ILO Convention in 1998 aimed
at eradicating 'the most intolerable forms of child labour'. Any
local initiative aimed at tackling child labour should also involve
children from the outset to ensure that their views are heard and
incorporated into the work of child advocacy organisations. Existing
local and national legislation pertaining to the employment of young
people must be reviewed in the context of global trends in child
labour, and international legislation and conventions aimed at
preventing the exploitation of children in the workplace.
Furthermore, NGOs, voluntary organisations and trade unions must
ensure that legislation is properly enforced and 'policed' by
appropriate government departments. Legislation in itself is not a
deterrent unless employers are convinced that the full force of the
law will be targeted at those employing young people illegally.
The enclosed chapters represent a comprehensive overview of the child
labour problem in both local and international contexts, and provide
an excellent introduction to this issue for those unfamiliar with its
various causes and effects. Professor Ben White (Institute of Social
Studies, The Hague) offers an absorbing, personal view' on child
labour as a divisive social issue and outlines the four main
positions adopted around the world to address this problem ranging
from containment to complete eradication. Professor White discusses
the definitions of 'child', 'work', 'child work' and 'child labour',
and concludes that thesimple dichotomy between work which is
acceptable and unacceptable is both 'crude' and inadequate. Ben White
asserts that the 'continuum of child work situations makes certain
kinds of work more or less problematic for children' and considers
'whether there is a feasible possibility to address and overcome
these problems'. In assessing the extent of the child labour problem
Professor White suggests that 'It is probably the case that recent
years have seen an increase in the worst forms of abuse· and
exploitation of children by adults'... He adds that combating the
exploitation of children requires a 'more differentiated approach to
child labour problems, capable of addressing many different kinds of
problems associated with the employment of children'. Such an
approach should distinguish between the more and less tolerable forms
of child work, and also recognise that the 'most common form of child
work world-wide is not in the commercial sector at all, but the
unpaid labour of children working for their parents'.
Nandana Reddy's provocative and wide ranging paper (Child Work in
India - Lessons from the Developed and Developing Worlds) considers
the impact of European-led approaches to the child labour problem in
developing countries which originated in the period
ofindustrialisatio n in Biitain. The 'western paradigm' for
addressing the child labour problem combined the application of adult
definitions to child work with heavy handed state legislation
designed to target exploitative working conditions in the industrial
sector. Reddy argues that 'the politics, economics, people, culture
and geography of the South [developing world] were, and are very
different from what it was in Europe in the last century'. The models
of development applied in developing countries have taken on
different forms of modernisation and industrialisation to those
normally associated with developed societies and produced 'very
different pressures'. As Reddy suggests 'There has been very little
understanding [in the developed world] of the social, cultural,
political and economic fabric of the South and thereby the reasons
that force children to work in countries of the Third World, that
still account for the majority of working children on this planet'.
Reddy provides an example from within India which highlights the
effects of misjudged legislation on working children. The Supreme
Court in India recently imposed a fine on employers of 20,000 Rupees
(~300) for every child employed in contravention of State Government
legislation. Since the introduction of this directive in December
1996, thousands of children have been thrown out of work by employers
anxious to avoid liability for a fine. These children have
'disappeared into the ranks of the informal sector' and subsequently
become more difficult to monitor or trace. Governments and employers
in developing countries are becoming increasingly pressured into
accepting Western strategies foi~ the elimination of child labour
which may remove children from the workplace but do not ensure their
long-term development and security. Reddy pinpoints one of the
primary failings of initiatives aimed at benefiting working children
when she suggests that 'one of the reasons for the failur e of all
strategies and interventions designed to address the problems faced
by children who work is that the group closest to the problem and who
possess the deepest knowledge of the situation, that is children
themselves, have not been setting the global child labour agenda'.
Jim McKechnie is a UK based member of the International Working Group
on Child Labour (IWGCL) chaired by Nandana Reddy, and with his
colleagues Sandy Hobbs and Sandra Lindsay in the Department of
Psychology at the University of Paisley, has carried out extensive
research on the costs and benefits of child employment in Scotland
and the North of England. The research findings challenge some of the
key assumptions in Britain regarding child employment: relatively few
children work; those who work are involved in a narrow range of light
tasks; and current legislation on the issue is more than adequate.
McKechnie et al argue that 'employment is not a minority experience
for children in Britain' and that 'it is the norm for a child to be
in paid employment before the age of 16 years'. These assertions are
supported by empirical evidence 'collected through questionnaires,
interviews and focus group discussions' which focused on the number
of children in employment (and previously employed), the range of
jobs taken by young people, the number of hours worked per week, the
age group of children in work, and the number of children with work
permits (in areas where this system is in operation). The results of
this research are mostrevealing and collectively suggest that
'legislation that is supposed to control child employment does not
work in practice'.
McKechnie et al make a number of recommendations based on their
research findings which could ensure the more efficient monitoring
and protection of child workers, and equally be applied to the North
of
Ireland:
1. We need to change public perceptions of child employment and the
views of policy makers.
2. More resources should be allocated for policing existing
legislation.
3. Education on children's rights in the area of work for children,
parents and employers.
4. We need a wider discussion on the role that legislation can play
in controlling child employment.
The empirical evidence gathered by McKechnie et al whilst limited has
at least widened the parameters for debate on child employment in
Britain. In the North of Ireland however, there is a pronounced
absence of the primary data necessary to enable us to accurately
assess the number of working children in our society and the range of
jobs in which they are engaged. John Pinkerton (Centre for Child Care
Research, CCR) was commissioned by Save the Children Fund to 'review
existing empirical research on children and work in Northern
Ireland'. Pinkerton's research highlighted the dearth of statistical
data and literature on this issue even in the publications of such
'key quasi government bodies as the Training and Employment Agency
and Equal Opportunities Commission'. The CCR's 'search made it
apparent that working children were not be found in the social and
economic statistics routinely produced for Northern Ireland' and 'all
that could be found were a few incidental references to children and
employment in works focused on other matters'. One should not
conclude however, from the lack of information on working children
that a problem does not exist. As Pinkerton points out 'Given that
two in five (working children) was a fairly consistent finding of
Great Britain Studies and taking into account the number of children
aged between 11 and 16 years in Northern Ireland, there are likely to
be around sixty thousand children around that age group culTently
engaged in work'.
Pinkerton stresses that his guesstimate' of sixty thousand is reliant
on the transferability of statisticspertaining to working children in
Britain but if this figure is any way accurate then it underlines the
need to investigate the issue locally as a matter of urgency. As
Pinkerton suggests 'the need for more information and understanding
in all areas regarding children and work in Northern Ireland is
clear'. Whilst research in Britain 'has not advanced much beyond the
elementary level of establishing its presence and general character',
even 'that has yet to be completed for Northern Ireland'. This is a
view shared by Madeleine Leonard (Department of Sociology. Queens
University Belfast) who in 1990 surveyed 150 households in an estate
in West Belfast in the course of research into work, employment and
unemployment. Her research brief included children and work as a
means of examining 'the nature and extent of such employment' and
also ascertaining young people's 'motivation for working'. Leonard
interviewed 120 school pupils aged between fourteen and seventeen
years which represented 'an almost total number of pupils from the
estate'. The pupils lived in an area 'characterised by poverty and
high.
long-term unemployment' and Leonard's research found a large
percentage of both male and female pupils (44% of males and 40% of
females) had some form of part-time employment. Leonard's findings
also revealed that 53% of males and 38% of females in employment were
under sixteen years, and that many of the pupils were working in
hazardous, low-paid occupations.
Leonard guards against relating the results of her research in one
blighted area in West Belfast to wider society in the North of
Ireland but she does suggest that the rates of participation
reflected in her findings are comparable to those in more affluent
parts of Britain. UK studies have found that 'children were less
likely to work in areas of high deprivation' but this assertion does
not correspond with Leonard's findings in West Belfast. The number of
working children identified by Leonard - albeit in a small scale
study - is alarming and again points to the need for accurate primary
data on this issue at a macro level. As Leonard puts it 'In the
absence of empirical research it is difficult to convince the
appropriate organisations and policy makers of the reality of
employment in the lives of children in Northern Ireland'.
The contributions by McKechnie, Pinkerton and Leonard collectively
strengthen the argument for more coherent and effective local
legislation to protect children in employment which recognises the
needs and aspirations of young people. Moreover, parents and
guardians, employers, and wider society must be made aware of the
'costs and benefits' of child employment, and limitations on child
work contained within existing legislation. The ILO (Children and
Work, Geneva: 1995) estimates that a total of 200 million children
are working worldwide and this number is set to rise as the essence
of the dominant global culture which children face is one which
asserts the dominance of individualism over co-operation, self-
interest over communal concern and materialism over ethical values.
As John Pinkerton suggests, 'it is the adult world of work in which
there is constant pressure from thepursuit of profit, which seeks to
draw children into the labour marke and to take advantage of the
weakest elements in the work force in orde to lower standards of
wages and conditions'. Each of the enclose contributions suggests
practical forms of action which can protec young people from the
worst excesses of the market, and their attendan social pressures and
moral decline. As adults we need to share thE responsibility of
protecting children from the exploitation of chil labour whilst
ensuring that young people are at the vanguard of change
Contents
Introduction
Stephen McCloskev
Child Labour in the International Context
Ben White
Child Work in India -
Lessons for the Developed and Developing World
Nandana Reddy
Bringing Child Labour Centre Stage
Jim MeKechnie, Sandy Hobbs, and Sandra Lindsay
School Pupils and Employment in West Belfast
Madeleine Leonard
Children and Work as an Issue in Northern Ireland - Setting an Agenda
Dr John Pinkerton
Legislative Action from the Irish Government
Eithne Fitzgerald
Save the Children's Position
Paula Rodgers