Please visit the CorpWatch Homepage for the latest information. Child labor is a systemic problem, and as the mobility of capital is deemed increasingly supreme by the globalization process, the various national laws designed to protect citizens, such as labor and environmental, are increasingly deemed barriers to trade and therefore, illegal. Nations with low labor costs compete with each other to attract foreign investment by transnational corporations and the result is downward leveling, a cumulative drop in various labor and environmental standards. Those with the lowest labor costs win in their efforts to attract foreign investment. This is a very simple way of illustrating why children continue to be such a lucrative source of labor for producers.
Children are the least organized in the labor sector, and are most prone to exploitation.
A critical report on the US policy toward child labor follows. The next three pieces come directly from Indian movements against child labor. Public opinion should move towards abolition rather than regulation. Child labour cannot be legitimised in any circumstances and eradication of child labour should be the basic goal. Email the web weaver.