Book Research Project: Child Labor
By Rachel C, Marrisa F, Morgan D, and Madison L
The original problem was forced labor, human trafficking, and slavery.
About 21 million people are victims of this problem. In Between Shades of Gray, the NKVD moved people out of their homes and into concentration camps. Lina, her family, many other Lithuanians and other ethnicities had their lives destroyed and had an unusually cruel punishment for helping others and escaping from their captors. Children were separated from their parents with an emptiness that took place in their eyes. Loving couples were separated into a devastating longing. Friends were separated from each other's support and fell into a pit of desperation. This all came to be because power people feel entitled to higher granted rights than people who cower beneath them.
In the book, characters get through the problem using their faith love and hope. Later in the time period, a law was made against free labor; then the laws were finally enforced around the later 1900s. This was also when equality was spreading and integration was enforced in schools. Before these laws were enforced, it was a lot easier to take advantage of families and children and force them to work.
Forms of child labor, including indentured servitude and child slavery, have existed throughout American history. As industrialization moved workers from farms and home workshops into urban areas and factory work, children were often preferred, because factory owners viewed them as more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike.
At the time in the book, authority members were able to snow over society’s views on child labor, free labor, and many other subjects. As time passed, we realized that what was happening was not okay and that we should take a stand. To solve this, they elected fair authority members and made laws to protect citizens’ rights. People took a stand for equality and improved the lives of all. In North Korea, there were several reports of child labor in forms of children being located at labor camps, therefore, children and citizens were being deprived of their daily of a loving environment. There has apparently, been 150,000 to 200,000 people in the labor camp system in North Korea (2012). The sad thing is that, the labor camps have been running for decades In North Korea. One of the North Korean foreign ministry officials in charge of UN affairs and human rights issues addressed that North Korea had no Prison camps, but they do have labor camps. According to him, they are “detention centres where people are improved through their mentality and look on their wrongdoings”. In an interview held in Seoul, South Korea, an orphan that was at one of the disreputable labor camps and told the reporter that “he was treated like an animal.” In the report there was another story about a 16 year old trying to cross the border to simply go to China, but North Korea put him in a labor camp. Here are his thoughts on it, “At Jungeori, there was no sense of being human, if you thought you were a human being, you couldn't live there,” said Kim, who is now aged 33. “You were like an animal. You do the hard labor you were ordered to do, that’s it. No thinking. No free will. Just fear. There are certainly more than numerous things that have, at present, been done to stop child labor. These things that are included, are, creating organizations, and, laws. Furthermore, in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibited the full-time employment of people of the age 16 or under, with a few exemptions in these actions. This act ratified a national minimum wage which made employing mostly all children uneconomical; it also supposedly, quote by quote, “Received the Supreme Court’s blessing.” Additionally, this made a partial end to child/free labor and most likely stopped a lot children from suffering through different levels of child labor which continued the thread of malnutrition and not enough shelter in labor camps. These labor camps are mainly where children suffer and what mainly starts the thread; some organizations have helped stop this even though North Korea and other countries have treated the children badly. Correspondingly, some more solutions that are made to end child/free labor are things such as organizations and petitions. By making organizations, there would be a greater chance of ending most likely not all child labor, but mostly partial parts of free labor; meaning more people rebelling, there is a higher chance of free labor ending. Various organizations that have been created in the goal to achieve ended child labor, are, Child Labor Education Project, and The International Labor Rights Fund. These 2 groups and several other projects and organizations have begun pursuing legal action against companies for ‘supposedly abused labor’ in numerous actions. For example, in 1996, IRLF had filed a suit against a company named, ‘Unocal’ for using slave labor to build pipelines somewhere called Burma. Also, with the support of U.S. labor unions, IRLF had recently filed numerous suits against companies that mainly used paramilitary forces to suppress organizing and assassinate union leaders in Colombia, though those suits that were made still are pending. The organization thinks that if this strategy is effective, it could be used in the future to hold organizations to stop child labor abuse. There are also additional organizations that have tried stopping child labor. NGO’S (Non-Governmental Organizations), has a key role in raising awareness and informing people about the wrong misuse of children who deny them the fundamental rights of shelter food and education. Many organizations have clarified the role of NGO’S as an important player in many of the ‘intervention’ stages with direct participation in operations. NGO’S can/will identify where child labor exists in the world and informs the government to make them notice the situation. Furthermore, NGO’S organizes rehabilitation centers to shelter children that were removed from work sites. All these organizations and projects with additional petitions help child labor end. Though obviously child labor is not fully ended, these organizations along with many more have helped it come to an end.
Bibliography:
Cite Source:http://eh.net/encyclopedia/child-labor-in-the-united-states/
Summary: In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibited the full-time employment of people of the age 16 or under, with a few exemptions. The Act enacted a national minimum wage which made employing mostly all children uneconomical; it also supposedly “Received the Supreme Court’s blessing.”
Way It Will Be Used: It will be used to explain how child labor is being partially resolved today and how these laws make a difference in the state of affairs we have today.
Cite Source: http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/ending.html
Summary: This source explains how child labor is stopped and ways others have in detail. It explains ways it has partially stopped certain labors and it also explains ways child labor can be stopped.
Way It Will Be Used: This source can be used to explain how child labor can be stopped in numerous ways and different ideas and plans to stop certain types of abused labors.
Cite Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/north-korea-malnutrition-un-children_n_2884831.html
Summary: This source talks about how children are suffering from malnutrition in North Korea and explains how children are suffering in North Korea. I ended up not using this source because it explained children suffering but no solutions of how child labor could end.
Way It Will Be Used: This source will be used to explain how children suffer in North Korea.
Cite Source: http://www.thechetna.com/CompleteAwareness.aspx?id=38
Summary: This source talks about children suffering in numerous parts of the world and it explains organizations that have helped end child labor.
Way It Will Be Used: I will gather information from the site to explain how these organizations have helped end child labor.
Cite Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2013/0521/North-Korea-s-hidden-labor-camps-exposed
Summary:
This graphics shows in North Korea where labor camps were exposed.
Way It Will Be Used:
To explain how many labor camps have been found and to convey how bad the problem is.
http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm
I got all my info from this website; the information I got from the website was accurate and clear. It explained all about free labor.
This article was mostly telling the details about child labor there and how it was done. The way it was done, was that many children were seen working in factories and fields. This can be used to in our project because it helps give facts about how children are being used in a sinister way.
http://www.businessinsider.com/countries-worst-child-labor-risks-2012-1?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com
This article was giving facts about, mainly, the labor camps and how they were being spotted. It also was talking about how North Korea denies it having labor camps. I can use this in my project because it gives more detail about how many people are in labor camps.
This article was about how North Korea is sort of defending the Labor camps with them trying to defend it with a positive outlook, like, it’s not wrong. This also was talking about how the human rights in North Korea remained abysmal. This can be used in our project because it helps us get a understanding on what North Korea thinks about the harsh labor camps.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/08/north-korea-admits-using-labour-camps
This article was about past labor camp workers and their experiences in the labor camps. This information can be used in our project because it sort of gave me an insight of how the people in the camps were treated and such.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/life-north-korean-labor-camp-no-thinking-just-fear-n32076
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor_laws_in_the_United_States
This article was about different laws and information about child labor; it also shows ways it has been tried to stop.
I will use this article to explain what laws were made to try to stop child labor.
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html
This article explains different laws that were passed in an attempt to stop child labor
I will use this article to explain the laws that were made in attempt to stop child labor and different significant events that happened.
http://www.excite.com/education/lawyers/labor-laws
This article explains different laws and information of free labor
I did not use this article because the information did not incorporate well enough to be used in my research; but it was still contributed within my research
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/history-child-labor
This article explains times and locations where free labor was.
I did not use this in my article because the information did not work well enough to be used and it didn't make sense to put in my research