Primark and Child Labor essay
Contemporary problems of childhood and child labour are being actively discussed and observed in different kinds of educational, political, economical and sociological literature. Billions of children are engaged in different kinds of work all over the world nowadays. It is obvious that child labor hinders children’s education and development and deprives them to be more prosperous in future, making them to work only for the purpose of to earn some money for ordinary livelihood. Many children are involved in the worst forms of child labor, which causes irreversible physical or psychological harm; sometimes specific types of work are even life-threatening. It is possible to state that existed situation leads to a violation of children’s rights, creates poverty and prevents normal economic and social development of society. Moreover, an additional fact that revolts the public is a normal attitude of some world popular brands to the issue of child labor, because many companies know that child labor is illegal, but continue to use children in their commercial purpose trying to decrease costs on the production of their goods. Thus, we are going to discuss the essence of child labor and main factors that forced children to work instead of attending schools. Also it is necessary to explore the scandal that had a place in Primark’s company, when it was accused in the use of child labor and the way how the law must take action about violation and regulation of child labor all over the world.
Basing on statistical data and reports that were made by different researches we see that the problem of child labor remains one of the most serious problems in the area of labor and child’s health protection. It is really painful to understand that almost every sixth child at the age from 5 to 14 years had to work instead of attending school and having a normal childhood. In addition to this, International Labour Organization (ILO) says that 25% of children aged from 10 to 14 years have a job, not only in Asia but even in some regions of Western Europe. Compa (2003) mentioned that child labor – is not only an issue that shows us the fact that children should to work, but it also pays attention of society on different situation when children not receive their salary or charge their money for shelter and food, which cost much more than a child can earn in the month; so, it forced children to work during long hours in extremely harsh conditions and became the so-called slaves, who have no rights, but have a big variety of obligations.
Thinking about the necessity of child labor we see that extremely poverty is certainly the main reason that forced children to work. In many cases income received from a child’s work can be a crucial point for the survival of the child or his family. Also it is necessary to mention that widespread opinion that children should to work, as well as local customs and traditions (even if they are based on good intentions) also plays an important role in child’s labor issue. Grootaert and Kanbur (1995) demonstrated that child labor may be so deeply rooted in local traditions and customs of some cultures and nations that neither parents nor children realize that child labor is contrary to the interests of children and is illegal kind of activity. It is understandable that children from large families are more likely to be at work than those from small families, as parents’ income is insufficient to support a large family.
In addition Gross (2006) stated that “In reality, children do a variety of work in widely divergent conditions. This work takes place along a continuum, from work that is beneficial, promoting or enhancing a child’s development without interfering with schooling, recreation and rest to work that is simply destructive or exploitative. There are vast areas of activity between these two poles.”
According to Alston (2005), discussing the role that education plays in child labor it is necessary to mention that availability and quality of schooling is also considered one of the most important factors that forced children to work. For example, many communities have a lack of the necessary conditions for schooling; and even in regions, where we can find one or more schools education is often not considered to be a viable alternative to work neither by children nor by their parents. Many families simply can not afford to send their children to school; even if the school is free, the family bears the costs in lost earnings, in a case if the child will go to school instead of work. Parents often said that education provided in schools has not appropriate level of quality and both children and their parents think that an education in their schools are not relevant to local needs and conditions (Lichtenstein, 2003). Therefore, it is not surprising that parents percept education in schools as useless activity that will never help their children to change their life in better side. Summarizing the above mentioned factors we can say that a huge number of children early find themselves on the unskilled labor market, where big companies or producers need only their hands, but not their mind and intelligence. Many children in a result of poor situation in their families remain illiterate during their whole life and absence of necessary skills that was caused by a lack of basic education prevents children from their occupational development.
It is well-known fact that not a long period ago the public was in shock after the statement that the world popular brand Primark use child labor in their practice. For example, British activists from the student organization for the protection of human rights and ecology (People & Planet) are not just resent the behavior of Primark, but also conduct active campaigns to the Internet and among the buyers of the famous brand, gathering around it a huge group of supporters in the fight against Primark. The publicity declared that Primark is not only violate principles of own company, when it stated that ethical trading is essential part of its politics and information retrieved from the official Primark’s website shows that “Primark is committed to providing the best possible value for our customers, but not at the expense of the people who make our products,” but it also violate international law that prohibit to use child labor. (www.primark.co.uk).
Thus, different public actions of protest and various discussions in press significantly reduce the ranks of Primark’s customers. In response to the claim that the big retailer company has used child labor Hawkes (2008) said that “Primark, the cut-price fashion chain that has transformed Britain’s high streets, said yesterday that it had been buying clothes from suppliers who use child labour. Primark said that it was dropping three Indian companies that make thousands of clothes for its stores after discovering they had sub-contracted work out to companies that, in some cases, used children for embroidery work.” The above presented statement shows us that Primark was agree with charges that child labor was used for production of their goods, but the company reject the fact that it knew about this fact of children’s rights violation and not try to stop it. As a result it is impossible to understand was Primark guilty or not, but the scandal gave people an opportunity to revalue the problem of child labor and think about it more intensively than they previously did. In such situation it is also possible to suppose that the whole world economy is reflected in the fact that at one end of the world (China or India, for example), different companies produce a ‘pile’ of things with the purpose of to throw them away at the other end of the world (rest of world, for example, the most developed countries).
Observing legislation base it is possible to mention that child labour is prohibited, and considered to be illegal, but such cases are practically not investigated and many producers continue to use child labor hiding it from press and organizations that are interested in the protection of children’s rights. Mosley (2010) demonstrated that “Consumers in affluent countries are appalled to think that their clothes or household goods might be the products of child labour. Strong international treaties are in place to outlaw the practice.” Discussing the way how the law must take action about violation and regulation of child labor all over the world, Cigno and Rosati (2005) observed that “In international law, labor issues have been reserved for the International Labour Organization (ILO). In the traditional perspective of the ILO, child labor must be eradicated from the labor market. Hence, from its establishment, the ILO strategy to combat child labor was to secure international agreements on a minimum working age for children. During the 1920s and 1930s a series of international treaties covering different sectors urged states to set a minimum working age. In 1973 these instruments combined into the Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment. The overall aim, as stated in Article 1, was to “ensure the effective abolition of child labour”.
Therefore, International Labour Organization traces the worldwide situation of child labor and convinces all countries to take special measures to limit and ultimately abolish the use of child labor. Kinley (2009) highlighted that it is important to emphasize that part of the problem of child labor can be solved by the elimination of poverty in developing countries, which compels them to use child labor. But, paradoxically, the best way to eliminate poverty is to allow children to receive education, which will provide them with the acquisition of skills that are necessary to perform such work, which is necessary in a developed country.
Thus, taking everything into consideration it is possible to conclude that the problem of child labor can not be solved immediately, but the refusal to buy goods manufactured with child labor will be a first step in the right direction that would help to change situation into the better side.
