Child Labor In Agriculture

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When I first thought of child labor, I automatically assumed the laborers were children stitching soccer balls, making teddy bears, and manufacturing garments. My opinion soon changed. I came across the fact that; of the two hundred and fifty million engaged in child labor, one hundred and seventy of those children are working in agriculture. The number of children working in agriculture is ten times that of factory work, and these children still receive little attention compared to those children working in manufacturing. According to the International Labor Association, child labor is “work that harms children’s well-being and hinders their education, development, and future livelihoods.” Child labor is an obvious problem when children are put into strenuous working conditions, facing with a high injury rate, and are deprived from an education. The Human Rights Watch investigated child laborers in Egypt, Ecuador, India, and the United States. They proved that children working in agriculture are endangered and exploited daily. Even in these four different countries, risks and abuses are extremely similar. Egypt’s cotton industry was part of the Human Rights Watch’s investigation. Because cotton is Egypt’s major cash crop, over one million child laborers work annually in cotton fields. Children are hired to remove pests from cotton plants. In Ecuador, six hundred thousand children work rurally in banana fields. The Human Rights Watch also examined the United States. They examined over three hundred thousand children that are working as hired laborers in agriculture. These children plant, weed, and pick various fruits and vegetables in what is considered to be large-scale commercial agriculture. The investigation in India included examination of bonded child laborers. Eighty-seven percent of bonded child laborers in India work in agriculture. Since this

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