Coming from Belfast in Northern Ireland I have not had any first hand experience of child labour but I do realize that it is a major issue worldwide.
Child labour is often used throughout the high street in the United Kingdom despite many retailers promising that they are adhering to the strict codes of conduct put in place by the government. However this has been proven not to be the case with shops such as Primark (Pennys) having their clothes made by young children in Indian factories. The undercover investigation which was carried out by the BCC’s Tonight programme showed an 11-year-old Tamil girl at the Bhavani Sagar refugee camp sewing sequins onto a shirt for Primark’s Secret Possessions range. The pressures that we as consumers are putting on retailers to supply fast fashion at rock-bottom prices has ultimately made sweatshop labour abroad inevitable. Therefore we must take responsibility for this! Why should children as young as 5 years old be forced to give up their education to provide us with clothes, which we will probably only wear a few times and then throw them away?
Before coming to South Africa to work at the Media Kidocracy Konference 2009 (MKKO9) I could not have imaged that this was a reality for so many young people. Back in the UK young people are really privileged and so going out to work to provide for their family is not a common reality. After all most young people in Northern Ireland get their part time jobs to have extra money to spend so that they can have the latest phone and go out with their friends at the weekends…we don’t think about what life is like for those who don’t have this luxury!
I suppose we are in the fortunate position to have a state welfare system than often ensures that families are not living on wages that are too low and provide extra financial support for those who are. We don’t realize that this is not the case worldwide and so children are forced to go to work to provide this extra financial support to feed their families.
My stay in South Africa has made me realize that young people in the UK take for granted that they by law are required to have and are provided with an education until they are 16 years old and also that they will have food on that table when they come home from school. We are often very ignorant to others misfortunes and the realities in other countries – we need to step out of our bubbles and realize that not everyone is as privileged to be in our position.
I suppose that although we are very privileged there is to some extent exploitation of children in Northern Ireland. I am looking at this from the perspective that paramilitaries in Northern Ireland are allegedly recruiting children as young as 12 years old to sell drugs for them. The children are then given punishment beating if they do not comply with what they are being asked to do. Many young people are therefore instilled with fear from paramilitaries and often agree to sell drugs and other things as they feel this is the only way to protect themselves. This exploitation of children is completely wrong and should not be happening within our communities, or anywhere in the world! The paramilitaries do not have the popular public support so now they are turning to the most vulnerable in our society, the children, to try and build their support to what it was. This should not be happening! We should be instilling in our children that they are beyond this and that they are better and stronger than this.
Below is a link to a forum discussion that we have started. Please go on and give your views and opinions!
http://www.wimps.tv/index.cfm/go/ectopic/BBCat_Key/9/BB_Key/26/Thread/808
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