Child Slavery
The hardships and life of the child slaves..
What is Child Slavery?
Children who are forced into involuntary servitude, debt bondage, peonage, or slavery is a victim(U.S. Department of State). "The sale and trafficking of children and their entrapment in bonded and forced labor are clearly among the worst forms of child labor," (U.S. Department of State). Child slavery is found in forced child labor, child soldiers, and sex trafficking.
The types of child slavery
As said in this web article "The distribution of child slave labor is one of the main problems of the modern world" (Vasilenko). The growing development of children working as prostitutes, cheap labor workers and performing other illegal acts is becoming a major act in the world. Also "According to the International Labor Organization, to date, more that 250 million children are illegally exploited in various industries, whereas child slavery comes third after arms and drugs trafficking in terms of profit" (Vasilenko). This is alarming in the fact that this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and made known to the public.
Corruption and Scandels
With child slavery and trafficking on the rise, many companies and businesses would secretly try and seek out these children to work for cheap or free labor. Many scandals and cases have been brought to the surface on the use of children slaves. In the article it is said that "Not long ago, the police of a small country in West African - Burkina Faso - conducted a campaign with the help of Interpol to release children who were forced to work in a gold mine. During the operation, more than 400,000 children and adolescents working in the mine were released." (Vasilenko) Also there are discoveries that are found that many children could be responsible for many goods manufactured in the world.
Causes
There are three reasons for the occurrence of modern day slavery: worldwide population explosion; rapid racial and economic change; and corrupt governments,organized crime and dishonest individuals (Bickerstaff.) A reason why children end up in illegal child labor because they are poor and will work for a little amount of money (Vasilenko.)
Effects of Child Slavery
Child slavery puts a dent in childhood development and puts them at a higher risk of death. "Childhood is a critical time for safe and healthy human development" (United Nations.) Children are starting to grow and change and if they are forced into child slavery they miss out on these things. They also "are at a high risk of illness, injury, and even death," and suffer "from long hours of work and poor living conditions," (United Nations.) Child slaves can also experience verbal, physical, and mental abuse from their owners.
Solutions to child slavery and servitude
In the United States, legislation and amendments against slavery have helped decrease slavery. Many educational campaigns have also been promoted to help people learn about the consequences and how to prevent slavery. If other countries adopted these methods than they can come closer to stopping slavery all together.
Conclusion
With our new knowledge of child slavery, we have discovered that there are many problems and pieces to child slavery. With the causes and effects, there are also solutions to this epidemic. We believe that if countries come together, we can try to cut down and someday work to end child slavery.
Works Cited
Bickerstaff, Linda. In the News: Modern-Day Slavery. New York, New York. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. 2010. Print.
United, Nations. "Child Labour". UN News Center. 2008. Web. 10 March 2014.
U.S. Department of State. "Slavery in Modern Times". Slavery. Farmington Hills, Missouri. Greenhaven Press. 2009. Print.
Vasilenko, Sergei. "Child Slavery becomes world's third popular problem". Pravada.ru. 12 October 2012. Web. 6 March 2014.
United, Nations. "Child Labour". UN News Center. 2008. Web. 10 March 2014.
U.S. Department of State. "Slavery in Modern Times". Slavery. Farmington Hills, Missouri. Greenhaven Press. 2009. Print.
Vasilenko, Sergei. "Child Slavery becomes world's third popular problem". Pravada.ru. 12 October 2012. Web. 6 March 2014.