ASD Libraries: G08: Investigative Journalism: Child Labor

Rights of the Child

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Books on Child Labor

The Child Labor Reform Movement by Steven Otfinoski; Timothy J. Griffin (Contribution by)
Call Number: 331.31 OTF
ISBN: 9781476502557
Publication Date: 2013
It's the 1800s, and you are a child from a poor family. You have to go to work to keep from starving. Will you: Work as a pauper apprentice in an English factory? Emigrate from Ireland in order to work in the New England cloth mills? Make your living on the streets of New York City selling newspapers? Everything in this book happened to real people. And YOU CHOOSE what you do next. The choices you make could lead you to opportunity, to wealth, to poverty, or even to death.
Breaker Boys by Michael Burgan
Call Number: 331.31 BUR
ISBN: 9780756544393
Publication Date: 2011
Little boys, some as young as 6, spent their long days, not playing or studying, but sorting coal in dusty, loud, and dangerous conditions. Many of these breaker boys worked 10 hours a day, six days a week all for as little as 45 cents a day. Child labor was common in the United States in the 19th century. It took the compelling, heart breaking photographs of Lewis Hine and others to bring the harsh working conditions to light. Hine and his fellow Progressives wanted to end child labor. He knew photography would reveal the truth and teach and change the world. With his camera Hine showed people what life was like for immigrants, the poor, and the children working in mines, factories, and mills. In the words of an historian, the more than 7,000 photos Hine took of American children at work aroused public sentiment against child labor in a way that no printed page or public lecture could.

Modern Slavery

Forced labour, modern slavery and trafficking in persons
Forced labour is a severe violation of human rights affecting 27.6 million of men, women and children in all countries and all economic sectors. It is rooted in poverty, discrimination and lack of social protection, and it disrupts fair competition between businesses. The issue has been at the heart of the ILO mandate to promote Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, leaving no one behind.
What is modern slavery?
You might think that slavery is a thing of the past. But right now, almost 50 million people are trapped in slavery worldwide.

It’s a problem that affects every country on earth – including yours.
Global Slavery index
An estimated 50 million people were living in situations of modern slavery on any given day in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Of these people, approximately 27.6 million were in forced labour and 22 million were in forced marriages.

Here’s what businesses and consumers can do to tackle modern slavery in supply chains
Even though the practice of slavery has been formally abolished, an estimated 49.6 million people are in forced labour globally, a quarter of which are children.

Modern slavery is an umbrella term that refers to situations where exploited individuals cannot leave because of threats, violence, coercion or the abuse of power. It includes a variety of practices such as forced labour, bonded labour and human trafficking.

Chocolate Slavery

Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry
In the past few decades, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa. Child labor has been found on cocoa farms in Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, although since most of Western Africa’s cocoa is grown in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the majority of child labor cases have been documented in those two countries.
Forced labour: Chocolate’s hidden ingredient
Chocolate is a vastly popular treat all over the world, yet many consumers do not know that forced or child labour may have been used to produce it. The farming and harvesting of cocoa beans are particularly vulnerable to forced labour, trafficking, and the worst forms of child labour.
Cadbury faces fresh accusations of child labour on cocoa farms in Ghana
The food giant that owns the Cadbury brand is embroiled in fresh allegations of employing child labour after an investigation obtained footage of children working with machetes on cocoa farms in its supply chain.
Chocolate companies compared
What distinguishes a company that makes “good” chocolate (chocolate untainted by child labour, modern slavery, deforestation and the overuse of agrichemicals) from one that merely makes chocolate?

Our annual Chocolate Scorecard investigation, which is a collaboration between Be Slavery Free, Macquarie University, The University of Wollongong and the Open University, suggests it might be a mission that goes beyond making food and profit.

Child labor

What is child labour
The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
UNICEF - Child Labour
Nearly 1 in 10 children are subjected to child labour worldwide, with some forced into hazardous work through trafficking.
Child labour data
Build and download your own customisable dataset
List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) maintains a list of goods and their source countries which it has reason to believe are produced by child labor or forced labor in violation of international standards, as required under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 and subsequent reauthorizations. The List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor comprises 204 goods from 82 countries and areas, as of September 5, 2024.
Save the children fund
Save the Children has information about its organisation and where they operate. There is useful information in the section about the problems children face in developing countries, such as landmines, poverty, child labour, abuse and violence. The kids page has profiles of children living in extra-ordinary circumstances.
Global March
The Global March Against Child Labour (Global March) is a worldwide network of trade unions, teachers’ associations and civil society organisations that work together towards the shared development goals of eliminating and preventing all forms of child labour, slavery and trafficking and ensuring access by all children to free, meaningful and good quality public education.
Child Rights Information Network
CRIN is a creative human rights organisation focused on children's rights. We challenge the status quo because the norms that dictate children and young people’s place in society need radical change. We press for rights – not charity – and campaign for a genuine shift in how governments and societies view and treat under-18s. Using research, policy, art and advocacy to communicate our vision for the future, we encourage people to think critically about the world.

Sweatshops

Your dress is pretty… who made it?
But however the message got there, it doesn’t divert from the truth. Child labour in sweatshops exist to this day and there are millions of workers who are grossly underpaid, working in less than acceptable conditions – and majority of them are children.
11 Facts About Sweatshops
Welcome to DoSomething.org, a global movement of millions of young people making positive change, online and off!

G08: Investigative Journalism: Child Labor

Rights of the Child

Books on Child Labor

Modern Slavery

Chocolate Slavery

Child labor

Sweatshops

Fashion Factories