Children’s Rights in Developing Countries and How Fair Trade Can Help Battle Again Child Sweatshops

Introduction

Children are deemed to be one of the most susceptible groups in virtually any population due to their respective physical as well as emotional dependence on the underlying adults and social standing. Children's susceptibility is relatively bigger in numerous developing nations because of the higher incidence of poverty coupled with promising social protection mechanisms (Giuliani, 2016). Social protection can act as a fundamental tool of continuing inequities as well as in fostering human rights, fairness, and corresponding inclusiveness.

The fundamental premise of the international declared that children that are below 18 years possess certain fundamental rights in developing nations and thus governments ought to establish legislation to safeguard these rights within their respective nation. The major children's rights in developing nations are a safeguard from abduction, children trafficking, protection of children against all supplementary kinds of exploitation prejudicial to any features about the child‘s welfare (Giuliani, 2016).

Child labor

Child labor is deemed to be a global problem that has gained massive discussion. Diverse solutions proposed to entail advancing global compliance with the underlying human rights standards, and escalating legislation as well as prosecution of crimes. The utilization of fair trade labeling in a bid to combat child labor is considered to be an approach that has received virtually no attention within the legal community. The International Labor Organization (ILO) approximates that t 20.9 million individuals are victims of typically forced labor as well as in human trafficking, and 5.5 million of them are deemed to be children (Giuliani, 2016). Moreover, children are normally trafficked into the conditions of debt bondage within the labor sector into agriculture, construction, forced child begging, as well as domestic slavery into the profitable sex trade to operate in the prostitution.

Tackling child labor is considered to be a challenging issue. Nevertheless, there exists a vast difference amidst children regarding the age-appropriate controlled employment that assist in nurturing skills and self-esteem, as well as curbing the destructive, vicious reality encountered by child laborers. Child labor is principally utilized within agriculture, which contributes to 71 percent in terms of child labor that equivalent to 108 million children (Cipriani, 2016). Moreover, 12 percent are found within the industrial settings while 17 percent offer services, like cleaning and domestic assistance. Even though 58 million child laborers are typically boys and the corresponding 42 million are girls, girls are deemed to be spending massive hours within the n domestic labor and are also more probable to work both domestically as well as in extra job (Giuliani, 2016). It is extremely cumbersome to get numbers of the domestic laborers and children operating as sex work since they are concealed from the public.

How Fair Trade is used to curb Child Labor

All the underlying fair trade organizations have committed to safeguarding children from taking part in forced child labor. Moreover, the fair trade is used in checking the compliance within industries regarding offering compulsory reporting on child labor violations (Cipriani, 2016). The monitoring process entails self-examination against the underlying fair trade standards, peer appraisals from corresponding trading partners, as well as random external assessments. This kind of monitoring has the benefits of utilizing fair trade for sporting goods (Andorfer & Liebe, 2015). Thus, fair trade can be utilized to ensure that the football industry excludes child labor from football production through solely purchasing buying from the underlying suppliers that approved to be inspected regarding child labor. Fairtrade can also be used in the production by relocation from home labor to the corresponding centers that are deemed to be much more easily monitored, which will ultimately lead to a reduction within the child labor within this sector (Child, 2015).

This kind of strict monitoring of the child labor violations coupled with the consequence of a producer losing their respective fair trade certification status can aid in creating distinct economic incentives for the producers in a bid to decrease child labor (Marshall, 2016). Moreover, the certification can solely be reinstated to the producers once they comply with the outlined regulations of fair trade.

Fairtrade can also aid producers in accessing relatively larger markets as well as technology that assist them in receiving a fair price for their respective product. Contrary to the old-style supply as well as demand model, small scale producers within the developing nations are frequently unable to undertake demand for the fair prices due to the existence of the power imbalances within the supply chain (Marshall, 2016). For instance, within the coffee industry in the developing nations, the economic examination has established that non-fair trade for the existing small coffee producers typically received under market prices for their respective product since they never had the required economies of scale (Andorfer & Liebe, 2015). Moreover, it has been established that producers who normally sell coffee beans to the outlined fair trade organizations have extra opportunities about advancing production methods as well as diversify their respective crops. Likewise, within the tea industry, devoid of the fair trade, smallholder farmers frequently depend on the existing local middlemen and factories in a bid to sell their respective products. Thus, lack of appropriate knowledge about the market, as well as the latest technological inputs decrease the farmer‘s bargaining power, escalates transaction costs, and escalates farmer‘s susceptibility to the exploitation.

The Fairtrade Foundation approximates that more than 750,000 tea farmers, employees as well as their respective families have been capable negotiate working situations and correspondingly attain better pay via fair trade. The majority of the workers are ignorant of their underlying rights, particularly and thus are subjected to poor working situations, not offered job security, and given too low to in a bid to offer food for the families (Andorfer & Liebe, 2015). Consequently, small-scale tea farmers receive solely a proportion of the price their underlying tea earns at an auction. Fairtrade can also be used in advancing economic benefits that can typically withstand market fluctuations for the underlying producers as well as create relatively better working situations for the employees. Moreover, fair trade can aid in offering a minimum price for the farmers for premiums for venture within the social, financial and environmental developments (Child, 2015).

The Fairtrade Premium can also opt to pay extra for the purchase price of the existing products at the underlying farmer level thus aiding producers to bolster their respective communities against poverty (Andorfer & Liebe, 2015). Moreover, premiums are typically ventured d into education, healthcare, business development as well as supplementary significant services that can permit the families and children to possess extended access to the significant programs and services.

Fairtrade's globally approved Fairtrade Criteria can also assist farmers and employees to handle poverty on their respective terms within developing nations within the world. The standards will typically enhance extensive associations and fairer contracts for the farmers, and compel the underlying employers to safeguard the fundamental rights of the individuals they employ through upholding decent operations situations, permitting collective bargaining as well as freedom of relationship, compensating wages that is capable of propelling country-specific living salary yardsticks as well as stopping discrimination (Andorfer & Liebe, 2015). Moreover, these Fairtrade Standards will also aid in forbidding child labor. Frequent inspection of the underlying Fairtrade producers consistently as well as paying exceptional attention to some locations and products where is deemed to be rampant with child labor can assist in curbing the menace. Moreover, Fairtrade ought to suspend as well as de-certifies the underlying producer organization where child trafficking is established until protective and corrective measures rectified (Child, 2015). In case child labor is established, Fairtrade ought to take immediate action in a bid to tackle in a bid to safeguard the children involved regarding their regulations. Fairtrade producer organizations ought to create partnerships with the existing local civil society organizations as well as child rights organizations in a bid to remediate situations about the abuse and manipulation and making sure that children are not revictimized.

Fairtrade can also operate with the communities to established Youth Inclusive Community Based Monitoring and Remediation (YICBMR) programs in numerous in a bid to assist individuals to take charge of the underlying issues about child labor (Andorfer & Liebe, 2015). Moreover, children, young individuals as well as adults ought to be part of the program in a bid to identify the prevailing potential risks of the children's welfare.

Conclusion

These economic benefits are deemed to be vital for the elimination of child labor since they address the cause of the problem such as poverty. Similarly, parents will be capable to make a suitable wage, and the underlying economic necessity will no longer compel them to send their children to work. Moreover, numerous sources have established that curbing child labor devoid of escalating economic benefits to the producers as well as employees workers can essentially harm children more since their respective poverty can escalate, which can make them resort to taking supplementary lower-paying jobs like prostitution in a bid to economically help their respective struggling families.

References

Andorfer, V. A., & Liebe, U. (2015). Do information, price, or morals influence ethical consumption? A natural field experiment and customer survey on the purchase of Fair Trade coffee. Social science research, 52, 330-350.

Child, C. (2015). Mainstreaming and its discontents: Fair trade, socially responsible investing, and industry trajectories. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(3), 601-618.

Cipriani, D. (2016). Children’s rights and the minimum age of criminal responsibility: a global perspective. Routledge.

Freeman, M. (Ed.). (2018). Children's Rights: New Issues, New Themes, New Perspectives. BRILL.

Giuliani, E. (2016). Human rights and corporate social responsibility in developing countries’ industrial clusters. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(1), 39-54.

Marshall, S. (2016). Fairtrade, corporate accountability and beyond: Experiments in globalizing justice. Routledge.