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138M children are in child labor. What does this mean?(ourworldindata.org)
12 points by surprisetalk a day ago | 4 comments
pmpmpmpm a day ago | parent | next [-]

So what are we doing to stop this, friends? We have the power.

pstuart a day ago | parent | next [-]

> We have the power.

Only if we are united in using it.

stefantalpalaru a day ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

laughing_man a day ago | parent | prev [-]

>Much of this happens in agricultural settings, where any work done by children under 12 is counted as child labor, even if it is light and non-hazardous.

>Imagine an 11-year-old helping on a family farm in sub-Saharan Africa. He feeds the animals every day, a couple of hours in the morning and again in the afternoon.

...

>As I mentioned above, the reason this type of work counts as child labor under the international conventions is that it’s considered to be harmful because of what it displaces: the children’s time for studying, resting, playing, and socializing.

This seems overly broad. I don't think it's unreasonable to have younger children doing chores, and the definition they've adopted includes children doing anything economically productive for even one hour a week. Yes, a couple hours twice a day is too much, but I don't think having your kid feed the animals for 45 minutes before school is going to stunt his or her development.