President Clinton said during the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in December that the group should consider sanctioning member countries that use the most severe forms of child labor. But developing countries led by Brazil, India and Egypt quickly rejected the idea. They accused Clinton of using moralistic language to cloak protectionist policies aimed at restricting imports from Third World countries. The dispute has been gathering force for some time. Child labor issues began attracting attention in the United States during the 1990s, with reports focusing on U.S. industries that rely heavily on child labor overseas in agriculture, apparel, sporting goods, carpets and rugs.
Child labor is widespread.
Egyptian kids harvest cotton, Indians knit rugs, and Kenyans pick coffee beans. Many developing nations, including Brazil, have moved to reduce child labor, and Clinton praised those efforts. But the countries say worldwide economic competition makes it difficult to eliminate child labor altogether. Take away work by children, they say, and production costs rise, and then companies flee to countries where labor costs are cheaper. Developing countries produce only a small portion of world exports, however, and the World Bank estimates that less than 5 percent of their child laborers are employed in export industries.