Submitted by crinadmin on
This paper reviews recent research on the long-term implications
of child labour: While not all child labour is harmful, many children
pay a high price for such work in terms of poor lost education
opportunities and adverse health impacts. This in turn translates
into high social and economic costs for the countries concerned.
However, child labour is a complex problem and solutions need to
be based on an understanding of the context in which it exists.
Poverty often creates the need for children to work and this,
when coupled with poor standards of education and health, has
long-term implications not just for the children themselves but for
their children, perpetuating the cycle through an
'intergenerational transfer' of poverty.
This paper highlights education and health as key areas for
intervention alongside the need for equitable development and
poverty reduction measures. It calls for good quality, appropriate
and flexible education systems that meet the needs of working
children. It highlights some key occupational health hazards
facing children, and reaffirms the need for targeted action to
eliminate the most hazardous situations for working children.
Finally, it calls for further research into child occupational health
as well as longitudinal studies into the impacts of child labour.
Owner: Rosamund Ebdon