NGOs intervention on Child slavery - labor abuse
Child labor and slavery is a global problem that has raised concern among various agencies and bodies of governments in different countries. Global organizations like WTO, ILO and GATT among others have prohibited its members from any forms of child labor and encouraged them to take proactive measures towards curbing the vice. With the direct and indirect pressure from these global organizations, there are hardly any nations that do not have explicit laws that ban and condemn the various forms of child labor with serious jail sentences attached to any offence related to child labor, what remains to be done is the implementation of the laws. ILO[footnoteRef:1] recommended that the member states needed to have a time-bound program of the actions they will undertake to eradicate child labor which manifests in the form of forced labor, slavery and slave like conditions, debt bondage, serfdom, pornography, child prostitution, using children for drug trade and employments, acts that are considered harmful, dangerous and hazardous to the child and interferes with their normal lifestyle and education. [1: International labor Organization, "Amsterdam Conference Condemns Intolerable Forms of Child Labor: Call for New International Standards and Global Solidarity" (1997): par-33. Accessed April 13, 2015. http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/media-centre/press-releases/WCMS_008044/lang -- en/index.htm]
However, there are still rampant cases of child labor within the borders and cross borders, child labor is still employed from the small scale farming to the sports industry and even the manufacturing industries. Child labor is a disturbing facet of modern day slavery with cartels that fetch millions of dollars from the trade of innocent children across the globe. There are internal child labor markets within the borders of almost all countries with higher rates experienced in Africa and Asian countries, further, there are international child trafficking for the purpose of exploiting their labor taking place mostly from the poor nations to the relatively richer areas. The proceeds of the child labor and trafficking do not help the children but go to the uncaring parents and guardians in their home countries. The seriousness of the matter has made the aspect of child labor and how it is being handled by governments be a defining mark in the relations between nations and also between international organizations and the host nations[footnoteRef:2]. [2: Global March International Secretariat, "Child Trafficking." 2015: Par-2, Accessed April 13, 2015 from http://www.globalmarch.org/issues/Child-Trafficking ]
In the recent history, with the challenge of globalization acting as a facilitating factor in child labor and consequent trafficking, many developed nations have insisted on clean records as far as child labor is concerned for the nations that would like to be in a harmonious diplomatic relations with them. In order to get the clear picture of the extent of implementation of the internationally recognized laws and ethics on child labor among other human rights, the international community and the West have been relying on the NGOs and their annual reports to make decisions on whether to engage a country or not, the levels of engagement and the conditions that need to be met before an engagement is reached as well as the rules of engagement forward.
Since the NGOs have been significant partners in reflecting the levels of international policies implementations among the developing nations, it will is the focus of this paper to divulge the various ways in which NGOs involve the host governments and how their existence and operations among the host nations shape the policies of the host nations and their relationship with the West.
Participation and influence of NGOs
The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are predominantly known to be non-profit and voluntary membership groups where citizens organize themselves in a local basis, at the national and even international level to offer the requisite services to their people. There are three types of NGOs; the Advocacy NGOs-which are known to stand up for the voiceless or who have no access to the government or international community. Operational NGOs -- these concern themselves mainly with the provision of goods and services to the populations that direly need them for instance in times of calamity or disasters. The hybrid NGOs - are known to perform the functions of the above motioned two categories. NGOs are known to generally be organized around specific issues for instance the most outstanding achievements of many NGOs has been in the area of Human Rights, environmental...
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