The sin of poverty

(ES)

Article 32.The state is obliged to protect the child from performing any work harmful to their health, education or development, to set minimum ages for employment and regulate the conditions.

Article 34.It is child's right to be protected from sexual exploitation and abuse, including prostitution and pornography use practices.

Article 35.The state is obliged to take all necessary measures to prevent the sale, trafficking and child trafficking.

Convention on the Rights of the Child

As extracted from the latest report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) on child labor:

"Today, throughout the world, around 215 million children work, many full-time. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play. Many do not receive proper nutrition or care. They are denied the chance to be children. More than half of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities including drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict.
Guided by the principles enshrined in the ILO's Minimum Age Convention No. 138 and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182, The ILO InFocus Programme on Child Labour (IPEC) works to achieve the effective abolition of child labour in 2016 "

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002. This day is celebrated on June 12.

That day, the media offer us many and varied documentaries that startle us. The images that are shown hurt us up to the deepest.

Article 3 of the Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, said:

For the purposes of this Convention, the term the worst forms of child labour comprises:

(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

Don't you think it hurts even more that the worst forms of child labor which are expressed in that convention ratified by 173 countries in the world is being suffered by 115 million children every day of his life, including the June 12?

The dirty faces by dirt and dust, with the grim expression that prints the responsibility of being breadwinners. Made-up faces of girls in prostitution, with their vacant eyes, as if long ago they are not living in this cruel world that allows it. Small hands supporting the heavy hammer that use as a tool, and beats our mind on every hit.

It is not enough to remember them one day a year, because probably some of what we consume in the rich countries, is the result, no doubt, of work and child exploitation.

Child labor deprives children of basic rights such as education or health. A world without opportunities, for boys and girls alike, as the one we are offering our children, is the closest thing to eternal sentence to extreme poverty. And extreme poverty is a major cause of child labor.

If Hell, Gehenna or Jahannam is the eternal fire which are condemned sinners, can not imagine what sin has been committed by the millions of children working in these conditions, deprived of the right to education, health, play... The sin of poverty, which condemns children for their whole life to a life without rights and freedom. An eternal life of poverty, labor or sexual exploitation for themselves and their descendants.

To break this cycle of poverty and child labor, integrated policies in education, social protection and employment are needed. Policies that depend on our governments that are responsible for applying them to our countries, and to act as catalysts to be introduced in other countries through development cooperation.

And above all, in education, we must not only analyze the ratios of schooling, because the dropout also has an increasing impact on the rising number of child labor as it advances the global economic crisis, taking pupils out of school classrooms to help support the family.

A child attending school that ends at least primary education is a success in society, because its future is in children's hands.

Not rest until we reach 215 million successes.

Let's be critical to our governments that are responsible for establishing integrated policies in education, employment and social protection.

Let's be critical to our corporations, to take appropriate actions against child labor.

Collaborate with NGOs on the ground that help to denounce child labor, prosecute it and break the cycle of poverty.

A laboring child is the sin of the rich countries.

There is much to be done. Acting is not an option but a duty.


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