A brief history of child and forced labour
Child labour and forced labour have existed for thousands years, and continue to exist today. The ILO defines the term “child labour” as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity in addition to being harmful to physical and mental development. ILO convention 29 defines the term "forced or compulsory labour" as all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.
Campaigners fought long and hard to combat the abusive labour practices that were part and parcel of the industrialisation of the West and the colonisation of the world’s developing countries.
In the 19th century, the social activists of the day succeeded in lobbying their governments to pass laws to abolish forced labour and abusive labour practices. Until then children in Europe and the United States worked in factories, alongside adults, for the many of the same reasons they do so today.
Persistent poverty in some areas of the world, changes in the nature of the world’s economy and rapid change in societies have enabled their resurgence.
Today, according to the ILO's most recent estimates, over 132 million boys and girls, aged 5-14 years old, work in agriculture around the world. They are part of an estimated 246 million child labourers globally. Few countries and sectors totally escape this terrible blight in the 21st century.
In recent years, labour unions, NGOs, international agencies and governments began to highlight the child and forced labour practices that persist today.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any easy answers or magical solutions. While there are now clear guidelines established by a number of international conventions, a child working alongside his or her parents on the family farm is often a result of complex social and economic issues. There may be no school nearby or efforts to identify and arrest abusive labour practices. It is also important to note, there are some types of work, mostly in the form of chores, which do not interfere with schooling and can be a normal part of growing up in a farming community.
Exploitative and forced labour, however, either of children or of adults, is entirely unacceptable or is considered a criminal act under international and national law.
At ICI, we believe child labour cannot be tackled by external action alone or in isolation from local concerns. We believe within the context of the agricultural environment, communities can visualise and implement change themselves. By creating programmes driven by local cocoa-growing communities and providing people with practical tools, ICI is changing the way cocoa is grown and ensuring child and forced labour become a phenomena of the past.
Campaigners fought long and hard to combat the abusive labour practices that were part and parcel of the industrialisation of the West and the colonisation of the world’s developing countries.
In the 19th century, the social activists of the day succeeded in lobbying their governments to pass laws to abolish forced labour and abusive labour practices. Until then children in Europe and the United States worked in factories, alongside adults, for the many of the same reasons they do so today.
Persistent poverty in some areas of the world, changes in the nature of the world’s economy and rapid change in societies have enabled their resurgence.
Today, according to the ILO's most recent estimates, over 132 million boys and girls, aged 5-14 years old, work in agriculture around the world. They are part of an estimated 246 million child labourers globally. Few countries and sectors totally escape this terrible blight in the 21st century.
In recent years, labour unions, NGOs, international agencies and governments began to highlight the child and forced labour practices that persist today.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any easy answers or magical solutions. While there are now clear guidelines established by a number of international conventions, a child working alongside his or her parents on the family farm is often a result of complex social and economic issues. There may be no school nearby or efforts to identify and arrest abusive labour practices. It is also important to note, there are some types of work, mostly in the form of chores, which do not interfere with schooling and can be a normal part of growing up in a farming community.
Exploitative and forced labour, however, either of children or of adults, is entirely unacceptable or is considered a criminal act under international and national law.
At ICI, we believe child labour cannot be tackled by external action alone or in isolation from local concerns. We believe within the context of the agricultural environment, communities can visualise and implement change themselves. By creating programmes driven by local cocoa-growing communities and providing people with practical tools, ICI is changing the way cocoa is grown and ensuring child and forced labour become a phenomena of the past.
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