Child labour: Mere ban won't work

BENGALURU: We often come across raids being conducted at factories employing child labour and the freed children being sent to rescue homes. But very little is known about the circumstances that force these children to work at such an early age or the trauma they undergo.

On the occasion of World day Against Child Labour on Sunday a city based organisation The Concerned For Working Children (CWC) screened a documentary, Forgotten on the Pyjama Trail, which deals with the root cause of child labour.

The documentary is based on true events that took place in Morocco. It is about Fathima, a little girl who works in a garment factory there to support her family. The documentary highlights the complexity of the problem and argues that simplistic solutions may prove to be counter productive. It also stresses on the need to listen to the children.

Kavita Ratna, Director, CWC said, “Sometimes mere ban on children from working might push them to more exploited and invisible areas like child prostitution. Hence, we need to study each case differently and then come up with solutions. It is important to communicate to the child and know what they feel.”

The documentary calls for understanding the experiences these children undergo from their unique contexts and take them into consideration while formulating policies, as opposed to a simplistic approach. It wants to reopen the debate on child labour and involve working children in them.

Kavitha said, “A nuanced approach, which takes into account the reasons and circumstances of why children are forced to work, would have a much better impact in globally reducing the number of children working in exploitative circumstances, as opposed to issuing a ban. In order to make these policies more effective it is essential that policy makers and organisations such as the International Labour Organisation adopt a more participatory and holistic approach to address the problem of child labour.”