It's interesting that when you google the topic of 'international labour standards' a lot of the pages and articles you find are focused on countries who have some of the worst labour standards etc. I found an article which talks about the 10 worst countries for child labour in the whole world. It is disturbing to read and see that this is still prominent around the majority of the world.
The List included:
10. Ethiopia
09. Pakistan
08. Burundi
07. Afghanistan
06. Zimbabwe
05. Democratic Republic of Congo
04. Sudan
03. Somalia
02. North Korean
01. Myanmar
Have a read for yourself :)
Now these are the top 10 countries for child labour in the world which mostly include children who are put to work in factories and fields from a very young age. But the article goes on to also explain how some of the top countries on this list such as Sudan, Somalia and Myanmar mainly employ children in to the military and militia for the countries use which is even worse having children exposed to such things so young.
Furthering my reading to the ILO (Check it out) website I found:
- 246 million children worldwide aged 5-17 (which is 1 child in every 6) are involved in child labour.
- 8.4 million children are caught in worst forms of child labour including slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour.
The fact that child labour happens often in countries who are politically and economically unstable makes it really hard to find a solution for. But I think out of any sort of international employment standard, child labour has to be the most abused type of labour and needs an ongoing solution to try and fix it as quickly as possible. Lastly, I just wanted to say that not all child labour just happens in majorly unstable countries, the United States actually has a law which exempts 'farm workers' from having a minimum age requirement like most other jobs have. It is reported that many Latino children can be found forced to be working long hours out in hot fields all day.
