Children cramped, starved, degraded separated from their families; chained to their workstations. What a life!.
Cliched as it may sound, but children are our future. These numbing statistics I have mentioned already are just a few examples of the facts, which show that ours is simply not "a world fit for children". Whilst their well-being and happiness is the most universally agreed aspiration we have there can be no denying that we are along way away from any such ideal.
Amazingly the EU's Treaties contain no reference to children's rights. For the first time the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights does contain a reference to the rights of the child, but this stops short of the clear and detailed Bill necessary to protect the rights of children. It astonishes me, shocks me, even infuriates me that whilst animals' rights are defined, in the EU Treaty, children's are not. Our green fingered friends in Brussels should be congratulated for their concern surrounding the care of the nice tasty lashings of British Beef which will surely be gracing their dinner tables but should also be reminded of the more serious violations of rights evident in the world today. It is, quite simply, unacceptable that there can be no comprehensive legal base to promote the interests and priorities of children within EU law.
Child Labour is a stubborn problem, which manifests which manifests itself in different ways and to different extents in all countries, regardless of the level and type of social or economic development. It comes about and is perpetuated by interlinked immediate, underlying, structural or root causes. It is only by tackling these causes that problems will be eliminated. For example poverty reduction and increased education are definitely necessary to reduce child labour. Poverty is the major determinant of child labour. Even though children are paid less than adults, whatever income they earn is of benefit to poor families.
