Street Art, Labor Day & Child Labor

Labor Day in the US and around the world draws our attention to the rights of workers. A compounding topic is the fact that 265 million children are working around the world, according to the International Labour Organisation.

Because of our collective neglect as human society, children are being forced to work to provide for their families in countries all over the world. In many poor countries, children must work to provide for their families otherwise their families will go hungry.

Finnish street artist and political activist Sampsa puts a child at the center of a corporate labor machine – from 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Why do children have to work? Shouldn’t they be free to enjoy their childhood, be fed and clothed, go to school? This is a problem that needs to be condemned as much as it needs to be understood. Simply advocating for universal children’s rights to education, housing, and health care isn’t enough. For as long as greed and unchecked capitalism run amok, families are pushed into poverty – and some children are forced into labor, exploited, and abused under a constant threat of violence.

What Congress can do to end child labor in the US

Netherlands Takes Big Step Toward Tackling Child Labor

“There Is Enormous Suffering: ”Serious Abuses Against Talibé Children in Senegal, 2017-2018

Submission by Human Rights Watch to the Committee on the Rights of the Child Concerning Cambodia

More US Child Workers Die in Agriculture Than in Any Other Industry