How to Eliminate The Child Labour

In the “State of the World’s Children Report, 1997”, UNICEF has called for six steps to eliminate the abominable evil of child labour, Chief among these steps are legal action to prevent child labour in hazardous occupations and provision of free and compulsory education. What is unfortunate, however, is that none of these steps relates to the creation of jobs that are essential for achieving the target. Without such job creation, these steps, as advocated by UNICEF, will lead to worse forms of child labour and not their elimination. If child labour has to be eliminated, as it must be, ways have to be found to increase the demand for educated adult labour. That would make it beneficial for the families to invest in the education of the children rather than putting them to work at a tender age. UNICEF itself admits that the results of international pressure and legislative action without such an economic complement are harmful to the cause. It points out that in 1992, the Harkin Bill was introduced in the U.S. Congress which would prohibit the import of products made by child labour into the U.S. The mere threat of such action led the garment industry in Bangladesh to dismiss child workers, most of the girls. But a subsequent study showed that some of them were found working in even more hazardous situations, including prostitution. Thus good motives, without proper consideration of economic fallout, led to the worsening of the situation.