It’s the time of year again when emotive and resolute messages about stamping out the evil of child labor begin to pop up suddenly on your newsfeed: June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor.
  • PunishedBernie [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    When campaigning against the exploitation of children, we sometimes risk falling into the trap of presenting child labor as an inherently evil phenomenon which should be stamped out entirely.

    …

    It’s worth noting the role of the ‘white savior complex’ in this oversimplification. Many organizations and individuals who campaign against child labor are based in the Global North whereas child labor is most prevalent in communities in the Global South

    :fry:

    by banning children from working without addressing the factors that motivate them to work, we risk causing real harm to them and their families.

    Sort of agree with this

    we believe it is crucial to seek out and pay attention to the voices of people with lived experience.

    This is correct… although framed extremely weird in context of the article

    Existing initiatives are already platforming the voices and requests of working children from around the world. “It’s Time to Talk!” was a global project, originally initiated by German NGOs Kindernothilfe and Terre des Hommes, that consulted more than 1,800 working children worldwide.

    Oh my god this is a puff piece written for a child slavery NGO group

    For more on this topic, watch our webinar, Do children have the right to decent work?

    Holy fucking shit

    • pink_mist [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Now that most child trafficking narratives have been discredited they need a new grift. Actually solving the problem would put them out of a job so they got to address it in the most ineffectual ways. Complicating the matter of child labor is a wonderful make-work effort to maintain unnecessary bureaucratic NGO positions for failsons and daughters around the world. It's all neoliberalist drivel to make people feel good about doing less.

      • PunishedBernie [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I have no idea what level of bullshit ideology poison a person would need to have to think this article was a remotely coherent concept

        I’ve worked with actual poverty alleviation and this article has me so pissed off I’m dropping the bernie bit in this thread. Holy shit

    • PunishedBernie [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Other “sources” sited:

      “Are adults willing to listen to children on child labour? Working children have the right to policies informed by their views and best interests”

      Best interests according to who? If you ask a child who is desperately struggling to help keep their underpaid family alive, then yes, they’ll say that. They are also literal children.