Should We Rethink the Ban on Child Labour?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2018
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most countries in the world have signed up to the idea that no child should work at all under a certain age – but is this the best approach? This week Nicolle, a 17 year old from Peru, has been part of a delegation of child labourers visiting the UN to ask them to rethink their ban on child labour. She’s been working since she was 8 years old, and says not only did her family need the money she earned, but working brought her status and respect. Some charities and experts working with child labourers agree that there are safe forms of child work. They say non-hazardous work can allow children to help their families, gain life skills, and even pay for the school uniforms and equipment they need to stay in education. But the UN and other former child labourers disagree, saying an outright ban is the only way to protect children from exploitation. We ask whether it’s time to rethink the ban on child labour.
Contributors include:
Benjamin Smith – Senior Officer for Child Labour, International Labour Organization Jo Boyden – Professor of International Development, Oxford University Zulema Lopez – former child labourer Kavita Ratna - Director of Advocacy and Fundraising, Concerned for Working Children
Presenter: Helena Merriman Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
Image: Girls collecting firewood in Eritrea, 2004 Credit: Scott Wallace/Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me Helena Merriman. |
| 0:11.2 | Each week one question, four expert witnesses, and an answer. |
| 0:16.0 | It's morning in Geneva in Switzerland and 17 year old Nicola is walking towards one of the most |
| 0:27.2 | intimidating buildings she's ever seen. She's got butterflies in her stomach. |
| 0:31.7 | She's never done anything like this before. |
| 0:35.2 | She walks up an avenue lined with flags and there it is, the United Nations. |
| 0:41.1 | And here she is, about to enter enter it a child laborer from Peru. |
| 0:47.0 | Nicholas started working on the streets aged 8. |
| 0:50.0 | She would ever since she can remember and now along with other child laborers she's bringing a |
| 1:04.9 | message to the UN let us work in an interview with us afterwards, she explained why. |
| 1:14.0 | When I first realized I was a |
| 1:18.0 | a woman, I was a working girl, I felt very proud, she told us. Most people who see |
| 1:25.2 | a child working think they've been exploited. But it's not always like that, she says. |
| 1:31.1 | I would give the money to my parents and they would give me food, clothes, everything. |
| 1:40.2 | It was my contribution to my family. It's inhumane to stop us working. |
| 1:46.0 | She's one of thousands of children who've joined movements all over the world |
| 1:54.5 | demanding the right to work, challenging the ban on child labor, and they're not the only |
| 2:00.0 | ones. Campaigners and researchers are also questioning whether the ban is working. |
| 2:05.0 | It's a view you don't hear much. |
| 2:08.0 | In fact, in making this program we spoke to people from some of the world's most respected |
| 2:12.6 | NGOs who criticized the ban in private but not in public. So this week we're |
| 2:18.6 | wading into a controversial debate asking is it time to rethink the ban on child labour. |
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