CHILD LABOR
Child labor is harmful to children all around the world.
Child Labor
As of today, 168 million children are engaged in child labor. Child labor is illegally putting underaged children to work. In the United States, the legal age to put someone to work is sixteen. Unfortunately, there are a lot of causes to child labor, all affecting many parts of the world. Child labor can even take kids’ lives, like Moin Khan’s.
Cause and Effects of Child Labor
There are many causes to child labor that lead to negative, and sometimes fatal impacts on children. Poverty is the number one cause of child labor. Most families who live in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America have to rely on child labor to supply money for them. Many parents are forcing their children to work because they are unable to sustain their families on their own incomes. Limited access to education is another cause to child labor, but it is also an effect. Children are spending their days working instead of attending school. There are limited laws against child labor. The ones that do exist are not strictly enforced. So, people continue enslaving children and force them to work. That deprives children of their childhood and is harmful to their developments.
Moin Khan
This is a story of a child whose life got taken away due to child labor; Moin Khan was only seven years old when he boarded his train to leave his parents. They, like so many other families in Madhubani, were living in poverty. Moin’s uncle said he ran a factory that he could work at and Moin couldn’t refuse. In a two-room shop in Northwest Delhi, Moin worked fifteen hours a day, for three years, creating bindis. A bindi is a decorative jewel that is worn in the middle of the forehead by Indian women. One Saturday, for an unknown reason, his uncle, Kalimuddin, hit Moin repeatedly. Another child, who also worked at the shop said he saw Kalimuddin pounding Moin’s head against the wall. Child labor took away Moin’s life, how many more have to be taken before we make a stop to it?
There are children all over the world putting their lives in jeopardy just to earn money for their families. The causes to child labor are poverty, limited access to education, and limited laws against it. Those all lead up to the loss of a ten year old, Moin Khan’s life. This generation’s children is our future and if we are putting them to labor until their deaths, who will we have left?
About the Writer
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