The booklet highlights the plight of one of the largest occupation groups in the informal labour sector – child domestic servants.
The booklet includes the following factors as contributing to the problem of child labour:
* poverty
* lack of schools and compulsory education
* discrimination based on gender, race, social class and religion
* war and conflict
* global economics
* cultural definitions of adulthood
The complexity of the reasons why children work should not be understated. Some forces limit or restrict options for children and their families, thus pushing children into the labour market. For example, when schools are located too far from children’s homes, attendance may be too costly for families to bear. As a result, schooling may not be perceived as a realistic option for those families. The families may decide to send their children to work, thus supplementing income and keeping the children busy.
The booklet pleads to the readers to remember those children whose labour and circumstances make them practically invisible to society. Child labourer needs should be recognized and addressed because no market force, no economic rationale will emerge to protect them. Work is a necessity for many of these children, but that hard fact does not make it acceptable for anyone to exploit their labour, abuse them, or deny them their childhood.
Proposed solutions provided by advocates for women’s and children’s rights include:
* introducing informal and skill-based education programs accessible to child domestic servants;
* developing occupational standards and practices including minimum wages, hours of work, and living conditions;
* including domestic work as an occupational category subject to current national and international labour laws and standards;
* promoting a worldwide ban on children under 18 living outside of the family for extended periods of time;
* designing institutions to allow independent observation and monitoring of child domestic servants; and,
* increasing standardization of and funding for national birth records.
