A young boy shoulders a heavy load in Aranyaprathet, Thailand.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
As many people in the Western World are being bombarded by advertising announcing "Back to School" sales, millions of children from Burma (Myanmar), Nicaragua and Cambodia to Thailand, Bangladesh, Brazil, India and Africa work in dumps, brick factories, tanneries and garment manufacturing facilities, toiling daily. Others survive by shining shoes and washing cars or selling books and water.
The children are seemingly exploited by nearly everyone, from factory owners and "businesspeople" to their own parents. Strangers get in on the act too, trafficking youngsters or buying them glue to sniff, all in the name of greed and profit.
As Americans spend about $300,000,000 USD per day on the war in Iraq, in Bangladesh a child laborer working in a factory earns 400 to 700 taka per month ($1 USD = 70 taka) while in Cambodia, a dump child takes home about $15 USD per month.
According to a report regarding child labor issued by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) authored by Dr. Poch Bunnak, Director of the Center for Population Studies at Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, "Understanding the causes of child labor can help develop workable strategies for campaign and activities against the worst forms of child labor."
Understanding the causes or not, what's clear is the child laborers endure horrendous working conditions in many instances, laboring for entities that don't have any work regulations or safety measures. Perhaps a shift in priorities is needed somewhere.
Are you interested in gaining more awareness of this worldwide scourge? If so, please have a look at the following photo stories by Gaia Photos members GMB Akash, Alex Masi, Luca Tronci and me.
Child Labor In Bangladesh
Child Labor In Cambodia
Child Labor In India
Child Labor In Nicaragua
Good luck to your kids this school year.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
As many people in the Western World are being bombarded by advertising announcing "Back to School" sales, millions of children from Burma (Myanmar), Nicaragua and Cambodia to Thailand, Bangladesh, Brazil, India and Africa work in dumps, brick factories, tanneries and garment manufacturing facilities, toiling daily. Others survive by shining shoes and washing cars or selling books and water.
The children are seemingly exploited by nearly everyone, from factory owners and "businesspeople" to their own parents. Strangers get in on the act too, trafficking youngsters or buying them glue to sniff, all in the name of greed and profit.
As Americans spend about $300,000,000 USD per day on the war in Iraq, in Bangladesh a child laborer working in a factory earns 400 to 700 taka per month ($1 USD = 70 taka) while in Cambodia, a dump child takes home about $15 USD per month.
According to a report regarding child labor issued by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) authored by Dr. Poch Bunnak, Director of the Center for Population Studies at Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, "Understanding the causes of child labor can help develop workable strategies for campaign and activities against the worst forms of child labor."
Understanding the causes or not, what's clear is the child laborers endure horrendous working conditions in many instances, laboring for entities that don't have any work regulations or safety measures. Perhaps a shift in priorities is needed somewhere.
Are you interested in gaining more awareness of this worldwide scourge? If so, please have a look at the following photo stories by Gaia Photos members GMB Akash, Alex Masi, Luca Tronci and me.
Child Labor In Bangladesh
Child Labor In Cambodia
Child Labor In India
Child Labor In Nicaragua
Good luck to your kids this school year.
