Child labour is a terrible issue and its existence is common knowledge worldwide. Unfortunately, we are not all completely aware of which industries actually exploit children and which goods specifically are made by the hands of children.

What is child labour?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child labour specifically, because not all work undertaken by children should be classified as child labour. Such things that improve their development and mental well-being – such as helping out around the home and earning pocket money over school holidays -should not be classified as child labour.

However, child labour, according to the ILO, is work that ‘‘deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.’’ It refers to work that ‘‘is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and/or interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely, or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.’’

In the worst forms, it will involve children being enslaved, separated from their families and exposed to very harmful and hazardous situations. Often it includes children being left alone to live in large cities without any suitable accommodation and care. Child labour and child exploitation affect over 17% of our children’s population (sourced from Our World in Data.org), which is 246 million children.

Child labour is found in many industries, but in this opinion piece, I have focused on the labour that western countries rely on to create cheap goods, such as clothing and food, in an effort to persuade people to be more conscientious in boycotting goods and brands that rely on child labour.

An important question to ask is: why do we continue to purchase goods when we know they are only cheap because they were produced by exploited children? If the children were known to us, we would certainly not purchase anything that exploited them. Yet when it comes to buying cheap goods produced by exploited children far away, consumers seem to have no problem ignoring their complicity in child labour.

So where is child labour commonly found?

Here are some of the industries most commonly known for using child labour according to the ILO:

• Coffee beans and cocoa beans

  • Agriculture is one of the most common industries in that child labour is used and, according to the ILO, responsible for some of the worse conditions children have to work in.

  • The plantations get the children to pick beans in the following countries: Brazil, Colombia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mexico, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. These children are living in some of the worst conditions known to humankind.

• Cotton, which leads onto material and the clothes we wear. Children are very commonly used as the labour force for picking cotton, particularly in countries such as the Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, where their economy heavily relies on it.

• Sweatshops to create the cheap clothes we wear and purchase every day. Sweatshops are sadly found all over the world.

• Bricks, there are 15 countries known to use child labour to create bricks. They include: Argentina, Brazil, China, Peru, Ecuador, and North Korea.

• The harvesting of sugar cane. This is carried out by children all over the world but in particular places such as Guatemala, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

• Tobacco, according to research done by the ILO, this is one of the most dangerous industries for children to work in due to the very hazardous chemicals they are forced to work with, the constant extreme heat, and the excruciatingly long working hours. The children also have to carry loads that are too heavy and stunt their future growth.

• Mines – child labour is very common in gold mines located in parts of Africa, Asia and South America. Children face life-threatening risks every day in these mines such as explosions and very harsh chemicals and are forced to stand for hours at a time. They are at high risk of dysentery, malaria, meningitis, and tuberculosis because they are forced to sift for gold in very unclean and polluted water.

What can we do in our everyday lives to stop inadvertently supporting the child labour industry and the exploitation of children?

• Out of the list of most common industries for child labour, find out what brands use child labour and stop purchasing goods from them. Find brands that are not only sustainable but also do not use children to pick the cotton, make the material, or sew the garments. We live in a society full of options, varieties, and different brands. This is a privilege because if a brand and product we know uses child labour, we can easily substitute it for another brand that does not exploit children.

• Ask questions, take action and demand change.

• ‘Sweat and toil’ is a comprehensive resourceful app created by the American Department of Labor that allows you to search countries and the goods that use child and forced labour in creating goods. Also, the legal standards and ratifications in the country, any advancements made, and what the governments are doing to resolve this. It also contains a list of the goods that use child labour and from what country. I would very much recommend downloading it to make yourself aware of just how severe this issue is.

• And lastly, if you are in a position to donate, I would recommend the following organizations that are helping in the fight against child labour. A few of the organizations from New Zealand are:

  • Unicef: donate to ‘global parent’ which helps give children a childhood free from hard labour.

  • Tearfund for modern slavery.

  • Child rescue.org.nz: They help rescue, restore, and protect. Can donate through the freedom fund or can become a rescue partner.