Defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity and that is harmful to their physical and mental development, child labour today continues to wreak havoc on the lives of many of our nation’s youth. Being a fairly common practice across the land, the implications of child labour on the individual and collective experiences of children are often not something that is seriously addressed. This lack of systemic and community response is unfortunate as significant amounts of children are being exploited and placed in harmful situations daily.
In 2016, a survey done by Guyana in collaboration with the United Nation Children’s Fund found that 18% of Guyana’s children between the ages of 5 and 17 are engaged in child labour. With the ever-building negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a surety that these numbers will significantly rise as sources of income in many homes are reduced or cut completely. To fill these gaps of lost income, more and more children are now being steered into taking up jobs to contribute towards their homes.
The survey also found that 37% of children living in interior areas are more likely to be involved in child labour. It is particularly prevalent in Region 9 where 71% of children participate in child labour with 57% of them working under hazardous conditions. Unsafe working conditions are predominantly seen in rural and Indigenous areas, particularly in mining communities. With limited commercial activities available within many of these areas, young girls and boys are steadily placed on a path of exploitation in order to help support their families. Young boys are particularly targeted for labour trafficking wherein they are often brought on to work on mining dredges and placed in dangerous positions and often not paid. Young girls on the other hand are especially vulnerable to sexual trafficking and abuse. It is not uncommon to go into certain communities and learn of families who sexually exploit and traffic their daughters. Urban areas are not without these instances of child labour and exploitation. The very same factors that increase it in certain areas are present across the country. There is no doubt that tackling child labour requires a whole lot of resources as it relates to economic support and public education and currently, resources in these areas are simply not where they need to be. Child labour cannot continue to remain a talking point to be brought out every June and then discarded until the next cycle. There is an urgent need for creation and sustaining of programmes that specifically target child labour. This must ensure that there is a response mechanism that focuses not only on taking children out of exploitative circumstances, but ensuring that they receive the type of support that would not see them having to return to similar situations.
There is a sharp correlation between household wealth and those that are involved in child labour. The UNICEF survey indicated that 32% of children from the poorest sections were involved in child labour with 24% of them working under hazardous conditions. What we can draw from this is the reality that economic vulnerability remains a significant threat to the stability and health of young children and their futures. As more of them are forced into dangerous work environments in order to contribute towards their family’s survival, the chances of them being able to achieve healthy and economically secure lives in their adulthood significantly drops.
Children involved in child labour rarely make it out of the cycle of poverty that placed them in that position. This is partially due to many of them being unable to continue school due to the demands of working. This contributes to the continuation of a cycle of intergenerational poverty. In our current society, education matters and lack of education often makes it even more difficult for young persons hoping to earn sustainable incomes. So often, those involved in child labour tend to grow up and remain trapped within the same economic state they always have been. If they do manage to escape that and ascend economically, it is usually framed as being a feel good story focusing on commitment to family and a pulling oneself up by their bootstraps mentality. Rarely do they ever analyze the impacts early labour had on them and the things they missed out on, on account of having adult responsibilities placed on them.
