Child Labour in the Cannabis Industries

By Kamilla & Jasmine

Causes of Child Labour

Poverty

In debt bondage to money lenders

Unemployment levels are high

Limited education

Parental illiteracy

No workers rights

Children's family might rely on them for money for basic survival

Limited prohibition on child labour

Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution

Childhood slavery wasn’t rare at all in the industrial revolution. For boys, they would start working around the age of 14 and girls would start around the same age. 18 percent of all American workers were under the age of 16. In the 1800-1900 childhood slavery was basically legal.

Working Conditions

Children would work from 10 – 14 hours a day

Factory environments were very dangerous (could easily loose a limb or die)

There would be toxins in the air which could lead to illness

They had to work in the sun all day with no breaks

Got paid little to no money

Child Labour in the 21st Century

There are at least 8.4 million child slaves in the world today. Children as young as 5 go out to work for as long as 20 hours a day for little to no money. Most of the child labor happening now is happening in extremely dangerous places like mines factories and quarries (large pits where stone or other materials have been extracted) the working conditions are way more terrible than they were in the industrial revolution.

How to Help End Child Slavery

Make sure all children are educated

Child slavery is worst in communities where the kids don’t go to school. Education should be free and

nearby so it’s easier to get to school because some people may not have cars or any source of

transportation.

Report anything suspicious

If you ever suspect that a kid is a victim of child labor there is a 24 hour number you can call or a website you can visit to report the situation. Everything is

anonymous. It has already help around 5,000 victims escape being a slave and helped find safe homes.

Get rid of povertyLike I said earlier child labor is happening mostly in poor countries but if the parents had enough money they wouldn’t need to send their kids off to work all

their life instead of going to school.

Hai Van Vo

Hai Van Vo was an orphan from Vietnam who was promised restaurant work in Europe when he was

trafficked into the UK. His captors said he had to work off the debt from the trip, so they locked him inside a place where he was forced to garden. When the farm was raided, Vo was sentenced to deportation after 27

months in jail. They constantly harassed him and barely fed him, and those who don’t go to jail are put

into foster care and in some cases they get forced back into working in the fields.