Exploitation of Child Labor in Africa PRESENTATION BY ERIN WALKER

How can I live in this world?Oh, what can I do?It is so dark ahead of me.Mother and father do not want us.They sell us to thugs.-South African child

Introduction There are parts of Africa today where childhood as we know it does not

exist. Places where a day for a child means engaging in labour that would be considered too harsh for any of us here, even as adults. These children are not working to better their lives; they are working just to survive through the difficult social and economic situations they are trapped in.

According to researchers behind CNN's Freedom Project, it is estimated that around the world today 20-30 million people are ensnared in slavery or forced labor, which is more than there were in the western hemisphere at the height of the slave trade.

Many of those 30-30 million involved in slavery are children, and additionally, Unicef reports that a startling 150 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor.

Locations Child labor and slavery is taking place as we speak all over the globe, from India to South America.

However, I have decided to focus my research on the exploitation of labor Africa, as the types of labor done by the children there tend to be more dangerous and physically demanding. The worst of child labor tends to occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and the ten countries most notable of hosting the practice include Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Benin

It is also more common in towns where HIV and Malaria kill off the adult population, leaving children vulnerable. They are either forced to world because there is no other way for an orphan to service, or lured by companies by false promises, or kidnapped and forced into labor through human trafficking.Risk factors: Poverty Natural disasters Diseases epidemics Corruption Unstable governments

Locations

Concentration of Child Labor At risk populations

Who Suffers:

Because of child labor, children are harmed physically, psychologically, and economically.

Who Suffers: Cocoa Industry “These farmers brave snakes and swing machetes to harvest cocoa, and they’ve never even tasted chocolate.”

Who Suffers: Cocoa Industry On the cocoa farms of the ivory coast, at least 800,000 children in

west Africa are still employed by Cocoa companies and dealing with conditions as poor as those who were forced to work as slaves.

According to the research reported by Majie Sackett, children as young as five years old are commonly witnessed having to carry heavy loads, even when they were injured from the labor.

Many reports have also been made of farmers starving, and verbally and physically abusing children who produce inefficient harvests.

On the plantations, hours are long, and protective clothing for workers is rarely available.

Strain from labor affects children's growth, the sharp Machetes that are used for harvest often injure children, and yet they must continue working with untreated, open wounds.

Who Suffers: Gold Industry According to the International Labor Organization, over a million children work in gold mines

across the world. Because of the horrendous conditions and constant dangers, gold mining is considered the worst form of child labor.

Who Suffers: Gold Industry Child workers are always at risk of mine collapse and injury

from the heavy machinery and rocks they move by hand. In the mines, children inhale large amounts of dust and

mercury, which leads to severe long-term health problems and neurological and developmental damage.

No protective clothing or safety regulations Even with the dangers and pain involved in mining,

workings are paid little to nothing. It is common for children to receive a couple dollars per week or sacks of dirt (which may or may not contain trace amounts of gold) in exchange from them finding gold, which sells for $1,178 per ounce.

Who Suffers: Education In addition to causing bodily harm to the children, working also takes children's

chances of getting an education. This leads to children not having the opportunity to work in any jobs better than

physical labor as they age, which traps them in their poor economic circumstances indefinitely.

Long term, it also contributes to the high adult illiteracy rights (1:3), which lessens the societies ability as a whole to empower themselves to work towards progress.

Who Profits European and American companies benefit for the cheap

labor of Africa. Modern technologies allow us to profit even more off the

raw materials these children produce. For example, in today's “Cocoa-nomics”, raw beans are

worth very little. They have almost no value until processed, and since farmers lack the technology to process beans themselves, they receive none of those profits- the corporations do.

The same pattern repeats with African production of gold and diamonds; the workers lack the ability to refine the precious metals and jewels themselves, so they are forced to sell them at extremely low prices to countries places like Dubai, where they are processed and sold for insanely marked up prices

History The cocoa industry, most other plantation farms, and mining businesses in Africa

have been powered by illegally sourced labor since the European colonization in 1800's.

Now forced labor in the cocoa industry still exists, but on a smaller scale, and while others feel forced to work in the industry it is economic reasons rather threats of physical violence. The harsh conditions and unfair compensation remains constant. African labor and resources have been exploited by Europeans and

Americans throughout history, and in some sense, it continues today as a form of neocolonialism

Solutions: Why it is difficult In certain countries, culture and traditions make the exploitation of people (especially

women) more acceptable. In other parts of Africa, society is based on kinship and it is traditional for a families children

to work with them in their career, no matter how unsafe in might appear to outsiders. It is not always a cultural choice for children to work, but an option with no better

alternatives.• For example, Cocoa is grown on mostly small family farms, and since cocoa sales

don’t bring in enough money to reinvest in the farms, more trees cannot be purchased and outside workers cannot be hired, so the family’s children must work in order for the family to survive.

It is difficult for government to punish impoverished families for breaking laws when they do it of necessity

Solutions: Failing ones The U.S. has put bans on purchasing gold from countries that exploit children in

mines. However, since most of those countries send the Gold to Dubai for refinement, it is able to circumvent those laws and enter the world market unregulated.

Burkina Faso and other African nations do have laws in place against child labor, but their governments lack the funding and organization to enforce the laws.

The Ivory Coast has now put a minimum price put on cocoa beans, which is only $1.50 USD per kilo of beans.

Solutions: Private Companies Due to public pressure, Nestle has pledged 120 million to end child labor

and improve conditions for farmers. Nestlé's scientists are also using genetic modification to breed trees with

much higher cocoa pod yield. By 2022, they plan to give away 12 million of these trees to farmers to increase the profit they bring in.

Nestle is also building schools to give children the opportunity to support their poor families through an education rather than farming

Solutions: Hershey's, Mars inc., and Ferrero committed to only sell chocolate that is

certified to be harvested without child labor by 2020, and although now only 5-10% of the worlds chocolate is certified, there are now incentives in place for farmers to produce cocoa without children, including a $200 bonus per ton of beans and a higher price at the market.

However, in conclusion, to truly address child labor the need for it has to be removed, which means these countries entire economic systems have to be changed and strengthened. Without a livable minimum wage or school system that allows all children to easily attend and cheaply, many children will still make the choice to work themselves.

Why I chose this topic:I chose this topic, despite the fact that it so unpleasant to think about, because it will never change if we do not spread awareness. Changing the channel when commercials about suffering African children come on will do nothing to improve their situation. We all have to research and understand the complex issues in order to find comprehensive solutions. In general, we are still so far from riding the world from the evils of child exploitation. Economic systems must be changed, laws must be enforced, and education must be spread. But the more of us that care enough to encourage these changes, the closer we will be to protecting children.

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Bøås, Morten, and Anne Hatløy. "Child Labour In West Africa: Different Work – Different Vulnerabilities." International Migration 46.3 (2008): 3-25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.