A Pandemic Cannot Justify Child Labour

A child cleans the floor instead of going to school. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS.By Puja MarwahaMUMBAI, India, Sep 2 2020 (IPS) For the past five months, our screens have been flooded with distressing imagery of one catastrophe after another: From the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable communities, to cyclones in West Bengal, Odisha, and Maharashtra. From locust attacks in the central and northwestern plains, to the floods in Assam and Bihar. All of these have had disastrous effects on the Indian economy—millions in the country lost their jobs or were forced to take pay cuts, economic activity in rural India came to a halt, and migrants were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres back home. Amidst these ‘visible’ problems, there are other issues that have remained ‘invisible’. One such issue is the effect of the pandemic on children, specifically, an increased risk of child labour.   COVID-19 has made children more vulnerable to child labour The numbers related to child labour in India were bleak even before the pandemic. Census 2011 data suggests that the total number of child labourers in India between 5-14 years of age is 4.35 million (main workers) and 5.76 million (marginal workers)—a total of 10.11 million. Further, the total number of adolescent labourers in India is 22.87 million, bringing the total (in the age group of 5-18 years) to around 33 million. The ongoing pandemic has augmented the existing causes of child labour, as well as added new ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Featured Headlines Health Human Rights Labour TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news