Child Labor

Executive Summary

Cultural relativism is an essential policy for the functionality of any business or individual in a foreign country.  After all, we all cannot countenance specific particulars that are indigenous to local populaces.  Certain foods, certain cultural traditions, and even certain values can be diametrically opposed to what we believe ourselves.  Nevertheless, we can appreciate and even empathize with value systems other than our own.  This provides an excellent opportunity for learning and understanding.

However, there are certain cultural norms that are anathema to all civilized and progressive societies.  Child labor is one of these aberrations that is widely practiced in the Third World.  As I have traveled extensively in India and Pakistan, I have witnessed the brutality and travesty of this particular practice.  Child labor is extensive all across these two countries; children are employed for unreasonable hours at pennies per hour.  Consequently, all opportunity for learning and development are lost. 

Many people believe that child labor is an essential part of the ability of a family to feed itself.  This is not true.  Most child labor in Third world countries is organized by criminal elements that force children to work, and intentionally deny them access to education or other social services.  They are paid negligible amounts of money for subsistence, and if these children have parents (which is not always the case), the money is used to pacify them.  These criminal organizations take a completed product and turn it around for sale on the international market, where the high level of labor and intricacy of detail demand outrageous prices.  A classic example are oriental carpets.  These carpets take up to six months to create, and dozens of children are employed to create these rugs.  These children are paid two to three cents per day, and the carpet is sold on the European market for tens of thousands of dollars.  In fact, twelve year old Iqbal Masih was assassinated by the oriental carpet industry in Pakistan after his desire to be set free from this enforced slavery was picked up by the Western media and publicized in the West.  

The problem is not the opportunities for work created by factories, but a combination of poverty and unequal opportunities due to the feudal effects of the caste system.  Pakistan and India both have their own caste systems; in India it is a rigid social hierarchy where castes are determined by birth and unalterable, whereas in Pakistan these castes are based upon economics and literacy.  Additionally, feudal lords intentionally deny children educational opportunities by employing them as laborers on their farms.  These feudal lords are made up of perhaps 300 families in Pakistan, and they control over 95% of the land.  It is in their best interests to keep their employees (I.E., bonded slaves) uneducated and unaware of their basic rights.  The farms and sweatshops that exist in these countries, as well as the ones in Vietnam, Malaysia, Mexico, and everywhere else there is a lack of economic opportunity, victimize and debilitate children.  The organizations that employ children also have them engage in practices such as organized street begging or prostitution.  They are a cancer and should be excised as such.

As Americans, we must always be aware of the logical fallacy of liberalism; liberalism taken to its logical conclusion is fascism.  We cannot allow ourselves to believe that our values and our system is the best system or the only system, and we must always keep in mind social and cultural sensitivities.  We must not force our beliefs upon other people, even if we believe it is in the best interests of those whom we seek to change or re-educate; this is fascism.  However, at the same time, we can, as human beings and members of the human race, collectively agree that certain behaviors and practices are abhorrent and must be eliminated from all societies, regardless of the level of their implementation.  Child labor is one of these practices.

We should realize that child labor has no place in the American economy.  Not only are these practices a stain on the fabric of any society, the free labor make it impossible for business and organizations in other parts of the world to be able to compete.  Organizations that  pride themselves on a high level of ethical compliance expend resources to design and implement these standards; these companies should be rewarded by the consumer for their actions, not punished.  Ultimately, it is not the consumer or the country that suffers; it is the children.  It is humanity.  It is our future.