Understanding the interaction between child labour and schooling in rural and urban areas in Ghana is essential to implement the most appropriate intervention. I aimed to establish parental perceptions of the extent child labour interferes with schooling in rural and urban areas in Ghana. The participants recruited were from Ghana purposively sampled across rural areas (Ankaase, Anwiankwanta and Kensere), and urban areas (Jamestown, Korle Gonno and Chorkor) amongst sixty government officials, NGO representatives, and both parents whose children were and were not involved in child labour. The research utilises semi-structured interviews conducted with parents (ten), stakeholders (ten), focus groups (thirty); and participant observation techniques (ten) utilised to gather the needed data. Interviews were recorded, transcribed utilising a framework approach as the data analysis method. This article finds that the child labour in the rural areas is not always inconsistent with school attendance while, in the urban area, the two activities are incompatible.

This article uses empirical evidence, based on labour market indicators, to analyse the factors influencing the incidence of child labour in Pakistan, from both supply and demand sides. The level of demand for child labour is shown to be linked mainly to adult wage levels, the adult unemployment rate in an area, and the size of the informal and agriculture sectors. The supply of child labour is seen to be positively linked to the proportion of adult unemployment in the household. Unlike previous studies, the article analyses both demand and supply side factors in a context of poverty and takes account of the co-existence of formal and informal labour markets. Furthermore, to generalise the issue for a longer span of time (which previous studies fail to do), it adopts the methodology of a pseudo-panel approach based on that proposed by Deaton. This approach makes it possible to pinpoint more accurately the factors, and their interaction, that need to be considered in any effective policy approach to the issue of child labour. To prevent unintended consequences, a multi-faceted development approach is required.

Child labour is prevalent in both developed and developing countries and has become a global concern. This is because of the negative impacts that it has not only on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, but on their development and health due to possible exposure to hazardous substances. This article interrogates the magnitude of the problem of child labour in the gold mines of Uganda and seeks to highlight the gaps in the existing legal framework on the protection of Ugandan children from hazardous labour. It asserts that although poverty and a failed educational system are believed to be the root causes of child labour in Uganda, weak and inefficient laws coupled with a lack of coordination between institutions responsible for protecting the child contribute equally. Thus there is need for political will by the government of Uganda to help prevent the problem.

Well-being and protection of all children have widely been associated with universal rights. Simultaneously, though, there is growing advocacy for a right of children to work to live. Drawing on cultural relativist premises, such advocacy strongly correlates with an acceptance of poverty as a condition that is inevitable or simply ‘given’. We advance an argument against a right of children to work to live. The fact that only poor children are compelled to work should direct analyses to the causes of poverty. A critical engagement with the politics of development is necessary as it is often constitutive of relations of impoverishment. We critique Eurocentric perspectives that advocate for child labour and substantiate our argument by drawing on the case example of Bolivia, which lowered the legal age for child labour, only to eventually retract this decision. We demonstrate the link between neoliberal development and a rapid increase in the number of children forced to work to live since the 1980s. The case for a right of children to work to live is not justifiable; but there is a case for abolishing child labour and upholding the right of all children and their families to live in dignity. Poverty is not ‘another culture’.

On 29 November 2020, Swiss citizens voted on a popular constitutional initiative, known as the Swiss Responsible Business Initiative.1 The vote was triggered by an initiative signed by more than the required 100,000 Swiss citizens who used their constitutional right to ask for an amendment of the Swiss Constitution by introducing a new provision on mandatory human rights due diligence and corporate liability. For such an initiative to be successful, both the majority of the people as well as of the cantons (states) is required. While 50.7 per cent of the participating voters accepted the initiative, the proposal did not reach the majority of the cantons and therefore the Responsible Business Initiative was rejected. Its rejection nevertheless triggered the adoption of new reporting and due diligence obligations relating to conflict minerals and child labour, which the Parliament had promised to adopt in case the Responsible Business Initiative was rejected.2 This contribution outlines the content of the newly adopted human rights due diligence legislation that will reflect the due diligence standard for companies in Switzerland for the years to come. It also aims to inform policy makers in other countries by describing the political struggle underlying the adoption of mandatory human rights due diligence in Switzerland.

This paper aimed to ascertain parental evidence of impact of policy on worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in rural and urban Ghana amongst 460 participants: I utilised 400 survey participants whose children were/were not involved in child labour and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques and applying the Stata Version 13 software. I also utilised 60 government officials; NGO representatives; and both parents whose children were/were not involved in child labour. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents (10), stakeholders (10), focus groups (30); and participant observation techniques (10) were utilised to gather the needed data and purposively sampled across rural areas (Ankaase, Anwiankwanta and Kensere), and urban areas (Jamestown, Korle Gonno and Chorkor) in Ghana. Interviews were recorded, transcribed utilising a framework approach as the main qualitative data analysis method. Parental evidence suggests that new laws, legislative reforms, programmes and activities have helped to reduce WFCL in Ghana.

International law prohibits slavery and slavery-like practices under treaties that have been in force for more than a century. Yet, contemporary forms of slavery are one of the prevailing challenges for the international community, with 40.3 million people in modern slavery on any given day in 2016. The State has been largely overlooked as a perpetrator or accomplice in the global movement to eradicate modern slavery. The hand of the State can however be found in contemporary cases of modern slavery. This article identifies five scenarios of State involvement in modern slavery and aims to uncover and bridge the responsibility gap.

The domestication of child-related treaties is not a straightforward process in Nigeria. Unlike treaties with another thematic focus, the majority of constituent states must give their full consent before any child-related instrument may be domesticated at the federal level and subsequently re-enacted in the domestic states. In many ways, the plural legal orders in the country and the differing perceptions of childhood make consensus difficult to achieve in terms of child rights legislation. In this regard, even though the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has been domesticated (through a contestable procedure), 11 of Nigeria's 36 constituent states have failed to re-enact the domesticating instrument. This study elaborates on this problem, and then examines some instruments that are not affected by the domestication challenges and may offer useful protection to children with regard to certain sectoral aspects, especially child labour and child trafficking.

The phenomenon of child labour is on the rise in Europe in the wake of the economic crisis. Specific action in tackling this practice faces a range of challenges including the often hidden nature of the work, cultural attitudes and gendered constructions of the role of children especially in domestic settings. This article explores the range of international standards and efforts made by numerous human rights tribunals aimed at combating the practice, with particular emphasis on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. It concludes that the Court has drawn erratically on its standard methodologies (including the comparative technique) in interpreting Article 4 of the ECHR, thus providing limited guidance to European States in getting to grips with child labour.

Child labour is a phrase associated with exploitation, poverty, insufficient education and various forms of physical abuse. These connotations do not match Australian perceptions about the employment of children and are not correlated with mainstream dialogue on teenagers in part time and casual employment. Child employment is an accepted part of Australian society, with older children making up a significant portion of the workforce. Minimum standards are increasingly regarded a critical safeguard for young Australians at work, evidenced by recent state level statutory amendment and enactment of dedicated legislation. This article makes two submissions; first, it suggests the regulation of young people's working conditions is inappropriately neglected at national level in Australia, and secondly, it proposes national standards should be set and equated with those in other developed economies, meeting international standards. The 1994 European Community Directive on the Protection of Young Workers is referred to as a suitable benchmark.

We develop a theoretical model where child labour results from a household's trade-off between sending a child to school or to work. Education is considered as a risky investment, since the survival of the child is not certain. We explore the effects of public expenditure on education and health on child labour, specifying a transmission mechanism for each kind of spending. On the one hand, we establish that health expenditure reduces child labour all the more as child mortality rate is high. On the other hand, a moderate aversion to risk is a necessary condition for education expenditure to reduce child labour. Our theoretical results are empirically validated on panel data from 66 developing countries between 1985 and 2000.

Visual methods such as photography are under-used in the active process of sociological research. As rare as visual methods are, it is even rarer for the resultant images to be made by rather than of research participants. Primarily, the paper explores the challenges and contradictions of using photography within a multi-method approach. We consider processes for analysing visual data, different ways of utilising visual methods in sociological research, and the use of primary and secondary data, or, simple illustration versus active visual exploration of the social. The question of triangulation of visual data against text and testimony versus a stand-alone approach is explored in depth.