To be born in Norway is the same as winning the lottery! Not everyone in this world have the same opportunities as we have. Poverty is something we see every day all over the world. The children who is born into poverty, often becomes the victims of the vicious cycle. Many children have no other choice than to do child labor. Many people may think “What if all the rich countries borrowed the poorest countries money”. That would solve the problem, right? Or would it? How is it that some countries are rich, and some are poor? Why do we go to school, while children in poor countries have to work? And how can the vicious cycle of poverty be solved?

Child labor is children who work when they are under a specific age determined by the law[1]. Children who suffers poverty in countries like Bangladesh, India and Cambodia, often have to work to provide for their families[2][3].  These children can either be the children who sows your clothes, or the children who has been forced into wars, or even children who has to work in the sex trade. The children that work in countries like these, often work under terrible conditions. They have long working days. They do not get payed much. Many of them suffers for hunger and needs of clean water.

 Aras is an eleven-year-old girl from turkey. She works 12 hours a day, from Monday to Friday. She works in a clothing workshop in Istanbul. Aras get payed 50 cents per hour. She said that if she could, she would rather go to school, but she knows that her family cannot afford to. Her family relies on Aras as a source of income to afford to pay bills and to provide for food.[4]. You may feel very bad for poor Aras, but the fearful fact is that there are even children that is younger than her, that gets payed less than her, and that has even worse jobs that her. Aras is just one of 215 million child laborers in this world[5].

Many children that gets born into poverty, do not have any choice but to follow their parents’ footsteps. They are born into the vicious cycle of poverty. There are many reasons why a family gets trapped in poverty for generations. It really depends on if the family lives in a rich or a poor country. It goes without saying that you have several benefits if you live in a rich country. The poorest countries in the world are rising very slowly financially compared to the rich countries. There are countless reasons why it is like that. The poorest countries in this world is not welfare states. Without tax money, the country cannot afford to build significant things like schools, hospitals, police stations and other important jobs. When a country does not spend money on education and police, there will be fewer educated children, and the crime in country will increase[6].

Climate is another reason why some countries are very poor. The warmest countries in the world are often the countries which are most exposed to extreme weather. Most of the warmest countries in the world is also the poorest ones. If a poor county experience an earthquake or a tsunami, it will cost a lot for the country to repair what is destroyed. Wars is also something that destroys massively. In fact, it is often the developing countries that experience war[7].

Many developing countries takes out loans from other countries if such a crisis occurs. Even though this sounds like a nice idea, it may not help the poor country in the long run. Let’s say the developing country uses its loan to build up a demolished area, and then, a half year later there comes another earthquake and tear everything down again. Then the poor country will not be able to afford to build up what got destroyed, because it is already in dept to another country[8]. When the country cannot afford to repair ruined cities, it is also unlikely to afford the children to go to school, get an education and eventually a good job that can get them out of the vicious cycle of poverty. And since the poor countries cannot afford that, the result is that children are exposed to child labor.

How can this vicious cycle and child labor be stopped? That is the big question. There is no easy solution to this global challenge, but some things can be done. In order for the developing countries to rise faster economically, changes must be made within that country. Developing countries often work differently than how we do when it comes to business. Here in Norway you must be the most skilled applicant for a job to get hired. In developing countries, it often happens that the family or friends of the person who is hiring defies the best candidate for the job. I believe that those who govern in the poorest countries should take advices and learn from countries that are doing well financially.

I also believe that we as individual people can make a difference by being aware of the situation and making choices based on what we know. One thing we can do is to be aware of where the clothes we buy are manufactured. We can protest by not buying clothes made by child laborers. I know that it would not make the situation better to begin with. Many people will lose their jobs at the sweatshops, and the families will struggle with getting money. Eventually, those who govern the companies that engage in child labor will go bankrupt, and then those who govern the country would rather start spending money on education for the children. We can also make donations to organizations working for the rights of child laborers. Either way, we can all make a difference!

Kilder:

https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnearbeid

Wikipedia (2020, 23 march kl. 10.44 )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_Cambodia

Wikipedia (2020, 30 January kl. 02.14)

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/worst-countries-for-child-labor.html

Sen Nag, Oishimaya. (2019, January 15). Worst Countries For Child Labor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evXvJO9gFtA

InfoMigrants (2017, December 7) Turkey: child labor takes toll on refugee children

https://strommestiftelsen.no/verdens-barn-i-tall

Strømmestiftelsen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k

The School of Life (2014, November 24) Hvorfor er noen land rike og andre fattige

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122271/

BMJ (2002, February 9) Root causes of violent conflict in developing countries

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/04/20/604169277/a-debt-crisis-seems-to-have-come-out-of-nowhere?t=1585274056795

Nurdith Aizenman (2018, April 20 kl: 1.58 PM ET) A Dept Crisis Seems To Have Come Out Of Nowhere

[1] https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnearbeid  (Wikipedia 2020)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labour_in_Cambodia (Wikipedia 2020)
[3] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/worst-countries-for-child-labor.html (Sen Nag 2019)
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evXvJO9gFtA (InfoMigrants, 2017)
[5] https://strommestiftelsen.no/verdens-barn-i-tall (Strømmestiftelsen)
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k (The School of Life 2014)
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1122271/ (BMJ 2002)
[8] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/04/20/604169277/a-debt-crisis-seems-to-have-come-out-of-nowhere?t=1585274056795 (Aizenman 2018)