“Let them play, not pay.”
Five words that scream one thing: a child is a child, not an automated machine.
Recent studies of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shows a whopping 138 million kids are in child labor globally, ranging from a young age of 5 to 17 years old. Literal children being dragged to work instead of studying is now the undermining reality, still being slowly resolved as of today.
Is that what childhood now means? To be able to earn money just to get past the day? No. Children are kids who desire to play under the scorching sun, and not work under the burning pressure of life.
According to research, 1 in 10 children are working. Evidently, it downplays the responsibilities that they already have in an unripe age leading to neglected education, health, and slowly, their childhood.
Statistics display that agriculture, with 61%, is the leading production sector with child labor, followed by services with 27%, and industry with 13%. This mirrors the non-stop toxic trait in labor — a growing community buried within the weight of work.
Furthermore, this was later on studied with UNICEF stating that the reason for child labor falls under the 8th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Decent Work and Economic Growth. Most children are taken to workplaces to assist the already worn out adults to replace them with their tasks. Rather, the experienced is replaced with the inexperienced.
Additionally, Africa ranks first with its 72 million working kids, and that 54 million are in hazardous work in the global economy. Most countries persist to match with the world's economic pacing, needing more manpower and support, thus leading to coercing kids into adulthood, robbing them of childhood.
Although, beneath the circumstance, it displays their presence of maturity. Juveniles, who are adaptable, patient, selfless, and uncomplaining — just striving to survive. And this International Childrenʼs Month spotlights the durability that we need to inhibit as we grow older: the permanence of resistance to discrimination.
But that doesnʼt change the truth that these are children who deserve to live in youth. To learn and grow through experiences as kids, not practically adults. Victims of child labor must be given a chance to be kids, the same and equal chance as other kids. For it is their right to be children, for we were also once children too.
From the moment we enter this world, to the day that we die; we are humans. Humans with empathy. These kids deserve empathy for they are humans too — not a machine. Child labor is child martyr for the mere economy — it is a crime against humanity.
Because they deserve to wield pens, not tools.
Written by Insight PH
Insight PH is a dedicated campus journalist and contributor. Their insightful writing sparks meaningful conversations and keeps the community informed.
