Child Labor Laws Essay Example

Child Labor Laws Essay Example Child Labor Laws Essay Child Labor Laws Essay there was a tendency to portray the working child on the family farm. These labor issues were r not clearly recognized and since it was done without pay for parents the government saw no reason to step in. They also saw their work as healthy and some form of play in the countryside. â€Å"Moreover, as a further reflection of this view as well as of the political strength of the farming interests, most child labor statutes are less strictly applied in agriculture than in other sectors of the economy. 5† When questioning the U. S. unemployment statistics is nothing new to labor economists. Current definitions for why children would be working include unemployed which are those â€Å"who are actively seeking work or who have been laid off†5. Other ways to look at these issues is though court cases. There was a Plaintiff, Malians who alleged that she was forced to labor on cocoa fields in Cote dIvoire. She was stating that she was treated unfairly and work too much under the international laws of labor. The manufacturers of this case filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. There were not enough facts to prove the case. The court granted the manufacturers motion to dismiss with leave to amend6. In another case the court again went to the issue of parental rights in Prince v. Massachusetts, supra, when a woman took her niece to sell religious literature on the streets of Boston. This case talking about women who had custody of niece but still made the child work at a young age. The woman was convicted for violating a child labor law. â€Å"Prince, 321 U. S. at 160-61. 7† At the end of this Court they concluded that the states interest in prohibiting child labor beat the custodial rights on the women. They did caution that it’s a â€Å"ruling not to extend beyond the facts the case presented. 7. | There was a question presented in a journal article I read. â€Å"Can labor rights advocates use an old law to protect young workers? † The answer was that â€Å"Alien Tort Statute (ATS) was passed by Congress as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 to ease international trade tensions†8. That article explains who ATS began and explains its viability. Now over 200 years later this statute still address international child labor rights violations. Over the last three decades, human rights advocates have used the ATS as bulls eye to bring att ention to international human rights abuses and find solutions for alien tort victims. â€Å"A number of scholars have written about enforcing internationally-recognized labor rights through the ATS†8. In 2004, the U. S. Supreme Court looked to the ATS for the first time in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain case. After Sosa case, claims brought to the ATS must implicate the norms that are universally accepted, and must specific, and concrete. The Sosa Courts discussion of how viable â€Å"ATS claims limits the potential claims labor rights advocates may pursue in court. 8† Moreover, the International Labour Organizations (ILO) recently shifted its focus to the cement international agreement on â€Å"core rights and condemnation of the worst forms of child labor in past years. Many bolsters take the claim of universal agreement on the basis labor rights. Scholars debate the effectiveness of narrowing international labor rights to a few core rights,8 but the recent agreements establish sufficient international support of a cause of action under ATS for the worst forms of child labor. 8 Now that there are powerful nation that enforces actions for child labor violations, people must think about what international efforts are effective to support and improve childrens lives. The dynamics of the world’s marketplace and the inherent limitations of a universal rights strategy, human rights advocates should use ATS as one part of the fight to end international child labor abuses. In conclusion, as I read through the articles I found, I realized child labor was a really big issue bad in the earlier centuries. In our new global market child labor issues are not limited to one nation. That is why the International Labour Organization and the Alien Tort Statute were passed and form. We as a global nation need to protect our children. As our economy gets bigger we will find that the aspect of our kids work may happen. There are ways that we American can protect against child labor. Unions groups are increasingly seeing the connections between worker rights and the fight against child labor. When recognizing child labor as a violation of childrens and workers rights, trade unions join together with families and community organizations to fight child labor and them the move children out of work and into school standards. History should us that good unions are important protecting against child labor. Especially when parents are not able to improve living conditions for their children. There are many companies and unions in the U. S. and other countries that are supporting efforts to end child labor by making alliances with unions in other countries. These alliances work to get enforceable global labor standards, such as â€Å"ILO Convention 182, and hold transnational companies accountable for labor practices†4. Some of the thing there countries are doing to stop child labor are, when the 2000 Olympics were held in Sydney, Australia, the â€Å"Australian labor federations created and signed an agreement with the Olympic organizing committee requiring all sponsors and licensees to adhere to minimum labor standards, including international conventions on child labor†4. The pressure from human rights activist, consumers, and international trade unions led the group overseeing the World Cup FIFA- Federation International de Football Association which adopted a Code in 1998 stating it would cease using soccer balls made with child labor4. That year, when reports said that children were still working in the soccer ball industry and that adult workers were not even being paid a living wage4, many activists launched a new publicity and letter-writing campaign, they were mobilizing soccer fans from all over, consumers, and politicians to demand FIFA improve factory monitoring and live up to the promises in its Code4. They activist wanted to see change in the factory or they would continue protesting and they would find some way to help the children in the factories. | End Notes 1. Corlett, Celeste. Impact of the 2000 Child Labor Treaty on United States Child Laborers. 19. 2 (2002): 1-27. 2. Moskowitz, Seymour. SAVE THE CHILDREN: THE LEGAL ABANDONMENT OF AMERICAN YOUTH IN THE WORKPLACE. 43. 107 (2010). Copyright (c) 2010 Akron Law Review. 3. Child Labor in U. S. History The Child Labor Education Project. Division of Continuing Education The University of Iowa. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. continuetolearn. uiowa. edu/laborctr/ch ild_labor/about/us_history. html. 4. Jonassen, Frederick B. A Baby-Step to Global Labor Reform: Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Child. Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Child 2008. Print. 5. Mitchell, Daniel J. B. ,