Critical Evaluation of Oxfam’s Approach to Child Labour
Assessment Criteria:
• Briefly outline and evaluate the approaches, and any policy initiatives, to child labour/slavery/trafficking adopted by your chosen organisation.
• Demonstrate awareness of the conceptual and theoretical debates surrounding child labour and an understanding of how your organisation’s approach fits within the wider context of development.
• Provide a critical and reflective account that demonstrates an understanding of the both key theoretical and policy debates surrounding child labour/human trafficking and the extent to which such debates are multifaceted and contested. Offer recommendations for positive change.
Aim of report:
Imagine that you are working for a business, public sector department, civil society or Non-Governmental Organisation.
You have been asked to write a briefing report that clearly summarises your organisation/business’s ideological and policy approach to EITHER child labour OR human trafficking/forced labour in relation to wider academic and policy debates in the field.
Organisations can be:
Multilateral institutions - ILO or World Bank
• Governments or departments such as DFID
• Global NGOs like Oxfam or Save the Children, Amnesty International
• Governments, EU or other
• Multinational business that works in an industry that might be linked to either child or forced/trafficked labour e.g. agricultural, manufacturing, retail or service industries (clothing, textiles, carpets, coffee, cocoa, mining and extractive, sex trade etc.)
Structure:
1.Introduction:
-a brief introduction to your organization; what does it do?
• Introduction to the issues or problems that will be raised in the briefing e.g. child labour or human trafficking/forced labour – what’s the big picture or local/global context here?
• an outline of the organisation’s approach to the issue if it has one (maybe your report wants to convince managers that child or forced labour is a problem for the organization and there is a need for policy or action?)
• outline of how the issue will be tackled within the report
2.Context: research / concepts key facts and statistics on the issue
• current situation
• the wider context (why is this important?) – you may introduce key academic ideas or themes here.
• brief introduction to key literature and academic work on the topic that you will explore in your critical analysis/discussion
3. Critical analysis of organisation approach / Discussion
4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• summarise the findings of the report – what are the key points/issues that need to be explored by decision-makers? What should be done? How does this link to the academic research or debates you’ve highlighted?
• Provide recommendations and advice
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF OXFAM’S APPROACH TO CHILD LABOUR
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction. 3 2. Context: Research/ Concepts. 3 2.1 Key Facts and Statistics on Child Labor (Current Situation) 3 2.2 The Wider Context 6 2.3 Key Literature and Academic Work on Child Labour 7 3. Critical Analysis and Discussion of Oxfam Approach. 8 3.1 Best Interest of the Child. 8 3.2 Zero Tolerance of Child Exploitation. 8 3.3 Shared Responsibility. 8 3.4 Risk Management Approach. 9 3.5 Responsibilities of Different People. 9 3.6 Critical Challenges to Oxfam in Eradicating Child Labor 10 4. Conclusion and Recommendations. 11 4.1 Summaries of the Findings of the Report 11 4.2 Recommendations. 12
Critical Evaluation of Oxfam’s Approach to Child Labour
Introduction
Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations fighting poverty and injustice worldwide. In addition to its work with partners, Oxfam also operates several initiatives and programs directly. Oxfam is committed to combating human trafficking and exploitation (Oxfam 2022). It works with partners worldwide to identify and support victims and prevent child labor and forced child labor from happening in the first place. It also advocates for strong laws and effective enforcement to protect trafficking victims and work to raise awareness of the issue. In 2009, an estimated 21.8 million children were in forced labor, trafficked, or servitude. Currently, 63 million girls and 97 million children are in child labor. The average child labor force is one in 10 children worldwide. The highest number of child laborers is in India (5.8 million), Bangladesh (5 million), and Pakistan (3.4 million), which are alarming statistics (ILO 2022a). Oxfam has issued a child safeguard policy that works in a child’s best interests; the company has set a zero-tolerance policy for child abuse and exploitation. It believes in safeguarding children under shared responsibility and protecting vulnerable populations (Oxfam 2019). The report discusses in-depth the child labor issues tackled within the report and how Oxfam can further strengthen its child labor policies to reduce child labor practices worldwide.
Context: Research/ Concepts
The section describes crucial facts and statistics on the issue, the current situation, the broader context, and the introduction of essential literature in critical analysis and discussion.
Key Facts and Statistics on Child Labor (Current Situation)
Worldwide, over 160 million children and 1 out of 10 children worldwide are in forced labor. 50% of children work in a hazardous environment. The most number of children in the workforce are in Sub-Saharan Africa and then in Asia and the Pacific, as seen in figure 1. The number is large, and the condition is alarming.
Figure 1: Child Labor Worldwide
(Source: ILO 2022a)
Figure 2 shows that the number of boys in the different age groups in child labor is more than the number of girls. Figure 2 shows the percentage of different age groups of child labor from age 5 to 17.
Figure 3: Percentage of Boys and Girls in Child Labour
(Source: ILO, 2022b)
Figure 3: Sectors in Child Labour
(Source: ILO 2022c)
Figure 4 shows that 27.7% of children from age 5 to 11 are out of school; 35.2% of children from 12-14 age; 53.2% from age 15-17 years are out of school. The children out of school are a significant burden on a country’s literacy rate as the results can damage economic development in the long run.
Figure 4: Children Out of School
(Source: ILO 2022d)
The Wider Context
The broader context of child labor is the global economy and its systems. Child labor is often a symptom of wider problems such as poverty and inequality. Many children work because their families need the money, and they may be working to help their parents buy food, pay for rent, or send their siblings to school. In some cases, child labor is forced labor – children are made to work against their will (Radfar et al., 2018). Child labor is also linked to other human trafficking and abuse problems. Victims of child labor may be forced to work long hours in dangerous conditions or paid very little (Dammert et al., 2018). It can lead to serious health problems, including malnutrition and infections.
There are several things that governments can do to address the issue of child labor. They can promote education and economic opportunities for children, support families who have children working and create laws that protect children from exploitation. The global response to child labor has grown over the past few years, thanks to the work of organizations like the International Labour Organization (ILO) (Busquet et al., 2021).
The ILO has developed several strategies to address child labor, including policies and programs that help employers comply with anti-child labor laws, training programs for workers and educators, and support for communities affected by child labor. Child labour issues prevail worldwide, which creates a significant burden on economies because youngsters cannot find the desired job at a better pay scale. Some international brands and suppliers have recruited child labor in developing economies to save costs. It can result in long-term child labor and even forced child labor, increasing the trend toward human trafficking. These children cannot struggle to improve their lifestyles and spend their lives working at low wage rates.
Key Literature and Academic Work on Child Labour
Child labor includes work done by children below the minimum age for employment in the country or work that is dangerous or harmful to their physical or mental development. Some examples of child labor are: working long hours in factories, working in hazardous environments, working as street vendors, working as domestic servants, and working in agriculture. Child labor is a violation of children’s rights, and it denies children the opportunity to go to school, play, and develop to their full potential. It also limits their full future potential (Li & Sekhri 2020). A trafficker may promise a child a job or a better life but then force the child into sexual slavery, labor, or other dangerous activities. Traffickers often target children who are alone or from vulnerable families. At the micro-level, child labor can have a negative effect on educational attainment and future earning potential.
Studies have shown that child labor reduces school attendance and leads to lower levels of educational attainment. It, in turn, can harm future earnings. At the macro level, child labor can have a negative effect on economic growth. When children work instead of attending school, they cannot contribute to the future economy, lowering labor force participation and GDP growth (Fahlevi 2020). In addition, child labor can harm foreign direct investment and workforce development. When children are working, they cannot develop their skills and may never be able to find a job that matches their talent.
The effects of child labor on the labor market can be divided into short-term, long-term, and indirect. Short-term effects include decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and lowered labor force participation rates. Long-term effects include stunted development, low educational attainment, and a lack of skills. Indirect effects include decreased income and parents’ healthcare benefits (Tuttle 2020).
Critical Analysis and Discussion of Oxfam Approach
The critical analysis of Oxfam’s approach toward child safeguarding children is presented in different themes as below:
Best Interest of the Child
Oxfam works with children, young people, and their communities to ensure their voices are heard and their rights are respected. It supports their involvement in decisions that affect their lives, such as decisions about their education, health, and welfare. It works to ensure that they can access information and services relevant and appropriate to them and participate in delivering these services. Oxfam campaigns to change laws and policies that deny children their rights and ensure that children’s voices are heard in the decisions that affect their lives (Oxfam 2019). Oxfam’s approach to child labor is based on fo...