Introduction - ILOs Role in Combating Child Labor in Italy
As found in the report of Ayo (2022), the concept of child labour is commonly based on biological, socio-cultural and legal factors. The author has said that a person below the age of 14 to 15 years is referred to as a child and, according to the legal law, involving a child in any kind of job is a crime.
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This has been seen from the report of Lal (2019) that child labour is a crucial issue that is affecting socio-economic growth, especially in developing countries. However, the author has referred to this as a global phenomenon with varying causes and magnitude. This can be said from this opinion that the factors of child labour are affecting the whole world with different consequences and this is making a challenging scenario for socioeconomic growth.
The report of Reid (2021) revealed a dangerous scenario with the issue of child labour in the world. Is seen from this report that around 160 million children are working in child labour, ages between 5 to 17 years in the world. Most importantly, this report has said that most of them are affected by poor educational, social and mental issues. The author also has said that around 79 million of them are working in hazardous situations.
Figure 1: Statistical Representation of the Number of Child Labour
This is getting more important day by day to manage the issues making a thorough understanding of the topic of child labour. This can be seen from various reports that child labour is making a grave issue in the social and economic growth of a country as well as the academic growth of children in a greater number. A resourceful approach towards sustainable development and social reformation requires greater handling of the issues of child labour and a thorough study around it is important to manage this with a greater approach. This is seen that the International Labour Organisation is working on this issue to a greater extent.
Research Aims and Objectives
This study aims to understand the factor of child labour in Italy and to identify the role of the International Labour Organisation around this issue.
The chosen objectives of the study are as follows-
To understand the factors of child labour in Italy.
To identify the issues of child labour in Italian society.
To identify the role of the International Labour Organisation in the issues of Child Labour.
To demonstrate the impact of the International Labour Organisation on the issues of Child Labour.
Research Questions
The important research questions are as follows-
What is the scenario of child labour in Italy?
How the issue of child labour is affecting Italian society?
What is the role of the International Labour Organisation in the factors of child labour?
What are the impacts of the International Labour Organisation on the factors of child labour in Italy?
Research Rationale
One important factor that can be seen in the contemporary market is that the factors of child labour are having a huge impact on socio-economic growth. This crucial issue is needed to be mitigated and a proper understanding of the factors is needed to do so. This research paper will be helpful to understand the concept and issues around it and the role of the International Labour Organisation to solve the issues.
Literature Review
Child labour is a grave issue in the contemporary market and this is hampering the growth factors of a nation. This is very important to understand the key factors that are causing this crucial issue to mitigate the issue from the core. An understanding of the concept and issues of child labour are discussed below with literary sources.
Concept of Child Labour
According to Lal (2019), child labour is taken as the issue with children who are engaged in any type of work that is hazardous to their social, academic, mental and physical stability and that can jeopardise their working capacity. This can be said that child labour is affecting the overall childhood of these children and leaving them with a lesser opportunity to grow. This is being seen from the report that 1 out of 11 children in India are economically active and this ratio is growing exponentially. As the author has stated, this is a crucial issue that is hampering the overall sustainable growth of the country.
Figure 2: Statistics of Child Labour in India
This is seen from the report of UNICEF Data (2022), child labour can be taken as a group or community of children who are involved in routine jobs in paid or unpaid forms. This can be said that these children are being classified as child labour when the job that is allocated to them is hazardous to their mental and physical growth. This is reported by unicef.org (2022) that child labour is the type of labour that is deprived of the childhood, potential and dignity of children. The report also has suggested that the factors of child labour are more challenging when the children are suffering from some disabilities.
Uyanga et al. (n.d.) also have said that the concept of child labour is closely connected with the factors of educational, social and health-related factors. The authors have said that this hampers the factors up to a greater level.
From the above discussion, this can be said that child labour means involving children under a certain age group in any kind of job which hampers their overall growth of them. This reveals that child labour is a crucial issue that must be mitigated at once.
Causes of the Issues with Child Labour
This is found from the report of Jabeen (2020) that poverty is taken as the most crucial cause of child labour. According to the author, a lesser income and poor economic condition of the family push most of the children to work. This is seen from the report of unicef.org (2022) that around 152 million children are working as child labour due to poverty where 64 million of them are girls and 88 million are boys. This serves the idea that poverty is a crucial cause of child labour in the world.
Apart from poverty, Bourdillon (2005) revealed that most children are forced to work as child labour due to the absence of any earning member in the family. The author has reported that this scenario is mostly seen in orphans where the children are obligated to take care of themselves of their siblings and joined any job. This can be taken as a challenging scenario for society. The author also focuses on the traditional institutions and religious factors that make children work. The author has said that in most cases the children have become slaves in their households and this causes a challenging scenario for their future.
The report of the ECLT Foundation (2022) revealed some crucial issues that can lead to child labour. According to the report, children are demanded to work as child labour due to various reasons. Apart from poverty, the report has said that children sometimes are forced to work due to natural disasters. This can be seen from the report that in rural areas the farmers send their children to work after the crops are destroyed due to natural disasters. The report also has said that children sometimes are obligated to join any work due to social conflicts.
Impact of Child Labour on Italian Society
This is found from various reports that the scenario of child labour is very crucial in Italy and this is causing a challenging scenario for the whole society. According to the report of Eurofound (2013), the estimated number of child labour in Italy is 370,000. One of the most problematic factors in this scenario is that most children in this group are minors. The report has convicted poverty as the main reason for this scenario in Italian society.
This is being seen from the report of InfoMigrants (2022), Italy is having around 28,000 child labours and half of them are migrants. The report has said that the actual data is uncertain due to a lack of research and information gathered from this scenario. Another very important factor that can be seen from this report is that more than 7,500 children working as child labour in the country are migrants.
However, this can be seen from the above reports that the number of child labour is reducing in the country. The reports above have revealed that the number of child labour is hugely reduced within a lesser time which can be taken as a positive factor for Italy.
Role of the International Labour Organisation
By the report of the United Nations (2022), the International Labour Organisation is a governing body that helps to manage social justice and internationally acclaimed human and labour rights. This can be seen that a greater approach towards human rights and labour peace is the mission of this organisation and the governing body is making a better job. Maul (2019) referred to this governing body as the "organisation of social justice". In short, the governing body is working internationally to provide labours with a better life.
This is seen from the report of the International Labour Organization (2019) that this international body follows some important rules to protect children from child labour. Some ILO instruments around child labour are as follows-
Minimum Age Convention, 1973
The fundamental convention of ILO set the minimum age of employment at 15 years and the minimum age for hazardous work is 18 years. However, the organisation has set the minimum age of child labour at 14 years in places with minimum development of economic and educational factors.
The Worst form of Child Labour Convention, 1999
The organisation has strictly prohibited any kind of act of slavery for children. These acts are taken as the worst form of child labour and this is a punishable offence according to ILO.
Looking at the discussion above, this can be said that the important factors of child labour are positively handled by the ILO. Apart from these factors, this is also seen from the report of ilo.org (2022) that the organisation started the mission named "International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour" (IPEC) in 1992 which is serving a greater outcome of the whole scenario. This mission is applicable in 88 different countries and serves a greater approach towards the issue of child labour. In short, the ILO is working on the factors of child labour which is making a greater outcome.
Impact of the International Labour Organisation on Child Labour
This is seen from the reports above that around 63 million female and 97 million male children are working as child labour in the world. As stated by ILO, this is a crucial issue for sustainability goals which is important to the government body.
This is being seen from the reports of ilo.org (2022) that a greater approach towards mitigation of the whole scenario. This is being seen that the ILO is having a greater approach towards this. The number of child labour is rapidly decreasing with the mission taken by ILO and this is helping to manage the situation properly.
Figure 3: Global Progress against Child Labour by ILO
Looking at the report above, this can be seen that a greater approach towards child labour is being taken by ILO. This is helping the factors of social and economic development for the nations and serving a greater approach towards the sustainable development goal.
Research Methodology
The methodology can be defined as the method that serves as a proper way to complete the research with the desired outcome and fulfilling the aims and objectives (Newman and Gough, 2020). A proper methodology helps the researcher to manage the whole factor and handle the outcome properly. The research methodology chosen for this research project is as follows-
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is the belief which is followed by the researcher to complete the research. The research philosophy is helpful to the researcher to collect important data and handle the important factors throughout the research (Tamminen and Poucher, 2020). Research philosophy can be of different types. This research project follows the pragmatic research philosophy to manage a greater outcome. According to the research topic, this is important to collect data from both primary and secondary sources and the pragmatic research philosophy is helpful to manage that.
Research Design
The framework and method chosen by the researcher to complete the research are known as the research design. This is the overall structure of the whole research project which makes a better completion of the project. Like the research philosophy, a research design is also of some types (Sileyew, 2019). The chosen topic of this research is focused on the factors of the contemporary market and needs a proper explanation to understand the whole scenario. This will be a better choice for the researcher to follow the explanatory research design which will help to complete the research properly.
Research Approach
The process of data collection, analysis and interpretation of a research project can be taken as the research approach. This is helpful to manage a greater outcome of the whole project and handle the outcome properly. The research approach is also of many types and all these types play important role in project completion (Hall et al. 2021). This is being seen from the topic that a detailed discussion around the collected data is important to complete the research with utmost clarity. A descriptive research approach is helpful to manage the research and depict the outcome in this scenario.
Data Collection Method
The process to collect data from various sources to complete research can be taken as the data collection method of the whole research project. Researchers usually follow different data collection methods to complete a research project (Berg et al., 2022). Looking at the research topic, this can be said that the research outcome can be decided based on the secondary sources. This will be helpful to the researcher to follow the secondary qualitative data collection method to complete the research.
Data Analysis Method
The method of analyzing the data gathered from different sources to complete a research project can be taken as the data analysis method. This is helpful to the researcher to use suitable data analysis to manage a greater outcome (Ho et al., 2019). Looking at the research topic, this can be said that the thematic data analysis will be helpful as the collected data around the topic will indicate a particular outcome.
Ethical Consideration
This is very important for the researcher to follow all the important ethical factors to complete the research. All the possible ethical means like confidentiality and respect will be handled properly in this research process. This will also be important to avoid the factors of plagiarism while using secondary sources to collect data.
References
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