Assignment:
Fighting the Challenge of Child Labor
Samsumg Faces New Child-Labor Allegations
While technology companies have faced widespread condemnation for their labor practices, including securing resources from conflict zones and using child labor, a new report by the Wall Street Journal highlights the scope of the problem in China. An investigation into child labor practices in China by the electronics giant Samsung found that subcontracting practices allowed children as young as 14 to be employed in the facility.
Economist Steven Landsburg writes:
"As any historian could tell you, no society has every pulled itself out of poverty without putting its children to work. Back in the early 19th century, when Americans were as poor as Bangladeshis are now, we were sending out children to work at about the same rate as the Bangladeshis are today. Having had the good fortune to get rich first, Americans can afford to give Bangladeshis a helping hand, and there are plenty of good ways for us to do that. Denying Third Worlders the very opportunities our ancestors embraced, whether through full fledged boycotts or by insisting on health and safety standards they can't afford to meet, is not one of those ways."
Does the employment of children 16 years of age and younger violate fair work practices?
Should child labor laws like those prohibiting employment of children be enforced in the developing world?
How might such laws affect development in such countries?
Should companies that sell products in the United States be prohibited from certain practices abroad? Why?
Also, think from the point of view of the child laborer, he/ she may be the sole earning member of their family.
Is child labor still unjustified?
Sanctions against countries that use child labor will trickle down and affect the least protected- the child.
What is the perfect solution to this complicated issue.