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The Origins of this Phenomenon

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The growing poverty that affects society is to blame. Children are condemned to spending their developing years working for the survival of their family, and school is often inaccessible. Children are occasionally traded or put into servitude by indebted families in trade for small amounts of money.

Globalization, which is ever more present in conversations, is not unaware of child exploitation. Multinationals search for docile and able workers to maintain their profit margins, and children are rarely found in unions or in social rights movements. The textile industry in Bangladesh is a good example: the child who produces a shirt there receives a mere 1/600 of the sale price in the US.

Education is one of the best solutions, and every local initiative to enhance access to education carries hope. Children must be given the right to an education, and to health and justice, so that each child can say “When I get older, I’ll be alive!”

Source: Unicef and the World: Daily Section.

Translated from: BOUDREAULT, Marco. Le travail des enfants dans des condtions indécentes. Le Nouvelliste, Comité de Solidarité Tiers-Monde, Trois-Rivières, December 1, 1997