User:Haiyun (Saijack) Zhu/sandbox

Unethical Child Labour

Introduction

The root causation of unethical child labour is extreme poverty.

It is ethically wrong to exploit child labour for economic gain. Unethical child labour is often related to the works that deprive children of their childhood and also harming the development of children physically, mentally, socially and morally. Prohibiting the exploitation of children is legislated globally, but there are still over 200 million children who are full-time labourers today. Extreme poverty is widely accepted as the root causation of unethical child labourers, but it could not ethically justify the wrongness in exploiting children. By using consequentialist approach to exam child labour in the Cocoa Production and Mining Industry, we are reasoning about the ethical wrongness of exploiting child labour.

The consequentialist approach deems an act ethical based on the result that brings greater net gain to society. In other words, consequentialism is utilitarianism. To exam the ethical wrongness of child labour under this consequentialist approach, it requires to prove child labour fails to increase the overall utility. According to the principle of utilitarianism, it forbids to sacrifice a smaller amount of people to achieve a greater account of utilities unless the net good overall is increased more than any alternative .

Examples

Child Labour in Cocoa Production

Background

Child Labour in Cocoa Industry

Child labour is widely used in cocoa production, especially in West Africa. According to the U.S. Labour Department, estimates 2 million child labourers are working in the cocoa industry in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana in 2019. According to CropWatch, 60% of the world's cocoa is produced in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, and 80% of the world's chocolate production is imported cocoa beans from these two jurisdictions. This data illustrates that the chocolate industry is highly involved in child labour. According to The Washington Post, child labour in the cocoa production field is the worst form of child labour as they are doing the type of dangerous work including swinging machetes, carrying heavy loads and spraying pesticides.

The documentary film, The Dark Side of Chocalate, reveals that the cocoa industry in Africa is highly engaging in children trafficking and slavery. Danish journalist Miki Mistrati was investigating the cocoa production in Mali and Ivory Coast, and he found that many children were lured with "job opportunity" and sold to Ivory Coast's cocoa plantations. By interviewing one cocoa plantation owner in Mali, Miki learnt that a child from Burkina Faso can be bought for two hundred and thirty euros. This price includes transportation and indefinite use of the child, most child labours in the cocoa plantation never get paid. Many footages in Miki's investigation were recorded by a hidden camera, and his work discloses that some international corporations including Nestlé are involved in using these child-labour cocoa beans.

Consequentialist Analysis

Between 40 to 50 million farmers in the Global South are involved in a cocoa plantation, and up to 90% of the farmers in the Ivory Coast and Ghana rely on cocoa as their primary income. Due to the low income among farmers in the cocoa industry, child labour is a popular mean to reduce production costs. One-quarter of all children aged 5 to 17 in the cocoa-growing region in West Africa are involved in cocoa production, and most of these child labourers are working in their families' farms along with their family members . Children help with their parents and contribute to household income are normally accepted practices in West Africa. Without even considering the nature of work in cocoa production, these children are being kept away from receiving an education and that in itself is a form of exploitation. Furthermore, the cocoa industry is normally associated with dangerous tasks that can cause physical harm to children labourers .

International Labour Law (ILO regulations 182 and 138) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (32/1) highly prohibit abusing and forcing child labours to work in the cocoa industry. According to International Labour Organization, "Children trafficked for work; forced and bonded child labour; commercial sexual exploitation of children; use of children for illicit activities and armed conflict" is the worst form of child labour other than hazardous work".

There are debates regarding the prohibition of exploitation child labourer may put children into worse situations. Due to the limitation of the government involvement in providing child support and education especially in West Africa, children located in these poorer countries are required to contribute and support their family. Documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate reveals the phenomenon that children voluntarily seek work in order to support their families. 12-year-old Mariam Marico from Segon wants to go to Ivory Coast to make money, Miki Mistrati asked her "what will your parents say when you come home for now?" Mariam answered, "they will be angry with me, they will say that I did not earn any money". Banning child labour in the cocoa industry will further limit the income of poor families, and it will further limit the children's opportunity for education.

The involvement of child labour can reduce the production cost of cocoa beans, and it can result in lower-price in cocoa products that may benefit the majority. However, child labourer is considered unethical under the consequentialist perspective. The principle of the consequentialist approach is against the sacrifice of a smaller amount of people in order to achieve a greater account of utilities unless the net good overall is increased more than by any other alternatives. By sacrificing the group of child labourers to lower the cost of cocoa production without considering other alternatives, it is considered unethical under the consequentialist approach. In addition, cocoa products are considered as "luxury" goods; therefore, by exploiting child labour in lowering unnecessary products' price can cause more harm than good for society. Under the consequentialist principles to define "unethical acts", exploiting child labours in the cocoa industry is not the only way to lower the price of cocoa products, and it also cannot increase the overall "utilities"; hence, the act of using child labours is considered unethical.

Child Labour in Mining Industry

Background

Child Labour in Mining Industry

It is estimated that over 1 million children are working in the mining industries globally, and they can be found in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and parts of Europe. Child labours within the mining sectors are commonly associated with the subsector of artisanal and small scale minings. The duties apply to child miners include digging, diving into tunnels and flooded rivers, carrying heavy loads, pounding the rocks into smaller pieces, and, in the case of gold, grinding the ore and mixing it with mercury. Child miners are normally between 5-17 years, and most of them are making less than 2 dollars per day as a full-time miner. Studies even show that there are children under 5 years old, who are found to work in the mining industry, and some child labours work over 12 hours a day and often suffering in hunger. According to the International Labour Organization, it describes child miners can face physical danger because of the heavy and awkward loads, the strenuous work, heavy tools and equipment, the toxic and often explosive chemicals, and the exposure to extremes of heat and cold. Hence, child miners are identified as one of the worst forms of child labour.

Extreme poverty is wildly accepted as the main reason to cause child miners. Parents under poverty are normally treating their children as a source of income, and the children are forced to work in supporting family needs. Due to the lack of opportunities and social supports, child miners are reflected as a form of social failure in terms of violation of children's rights. In the cases of children working in gold mines, they are exposed to Mercury. Mercury contains a highly toxic substance that can affect children's brain, kidneys and lungs, and it can damage the development of children's nervous system and result in long-term developmental disabilites. Child miners are not the solutions for poverty, and it will bring significant negative impacts for them both physically and mentally.

Consequentialist Analysis

In investigating the working conditions for child miners, Sky News establishes a special report called Inside the Congo cobalt mines that exploit children in 2017. This report reveals that child miners are working in dangerous and unsafe conditions in Cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The footage of the report was taken on a rainy day while all child miners were working under risky conditions. The tunnels are dug by children's bare hands, and the tunnels frequently collapse, especially during a rainy day. Furthermore, child miners are required to climb down the tunnels by using ropes carved in the rock with no safety equipment. By interviewing Dawson, an 8 years old miner working in Cobalt, he had not eaten for two days while he has been working 12 hours a day. Child miners are found to extract and sort the minerals by bared hands and wear no masks from the recording. According to the World Health Organization, exposure to cobalt and breathing in its dust fumes can result in long-term health problems. Hence, by placing child labours working in the mining industry, these children are risking their lives for economic gain.

Child miners' right for education is vastly violated, and the lack of education further extends the circle of child miners' poverty. Child labourers are exploited for lowering the production cost in mining industries, and it impacts consumers' benefits in terms of the cost in shoppings. According to the consequentialist theory, the net gain to society is required to calculate the total gain minus the potential lost by using child miners in the situation. The total gain can be quantified based on the economic gain those child miners produced by working in the mining industry, but the total loss also needs to be quantified by taking into account the lost education of these children that could have brought great benefits to society as a whole. This consequential equation can be predicted for negative results. In addition, there are other means of lowering the cost of mining production. Studies show that technology development and equipment investment can not only decrease the cost of input but also increase the productivity for the minings. In these regards, the act for exploiting child labourers in the mining industries produce more harm than good to society, and it is considered unethical in doing so.

Discussion

United Nations Resolution

In 2019, the United Nations announced that the 2021 International Year for ending child labour, promoting cooperation between united nations and regional organizations. This piece of establishment is aiming to raise global awareness of the importance of eradicating child labour, and developing best practices to serve the goal of eliminating child labour in all its forms by 2025.

The debate on Boycotting Child-labour Goods

According to Human Rights Watch, boycotting child labour goods cannot prohibit child labours. Instead, actions of boycotting further reduce the incomes of impoverished communities, and it will result in higher levels of child labours . Poverty is considered the main reason for child labourers, studies suggest that establishing policies in helping the impoverished communities in developing countries can be more effective to reduce child labours.

Canadian Child Labour Law

According to Employment standards in Canada, children under 16 years cannot work more than 20 hours during a school week or between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. unless permitted by the Director. Children under 18 cannot work alone; they must be supervised between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and they may not be employed in certain stipulated industries. There are 14 provincial legislation related to protecting Canadian young workers and these rules restrict the nature of work, the number of hours and when they can be worked. These legislations aim to protect young children from exploitation while providing opportunities for children to obtain social experiences from works.

In Dec. 13, 2018, John McKay introduced Bill C-423, the Modern Slavery Bill that requires large corporations to involve no slaves and child labour in their supply chain productions and disclose the information of their supply importation to the public. Ultimately, Bill C-432 is proposed to use consumers' power to pressure corporations in eliminating child labour and slavery in their production.

NGOs

Global March Against Child Labour was formed in 1998 with the target to end child labour. This Non-government organization is a leading advocate for the ratification and implementation of ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and has demonstrated that children can be significant agents for change.

Supply Chain

A supply chain is a network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. There are debates regarding the supply chain strategy pressures the producers to provide "low cost" products, and it promotes child labour involvement in poor developing countries. Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (SDIR) establishes a report named "A Call to Action: Ending the Use of all Forms of Child Labour in Supply Chains" to raise the global intentions to join the anti-child labour in supply chain movements.

Fair Trade

Fair Trade is promoting consumers to pay higher prices for products to help producers in developing countries to achieve better trading conditions, which includes fighting children's rights and safety in the producer communities. Fairtrade standards prohibit child labour, and the organization helping the local producers by providing economic support in aiming at eliminating child labour.