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It is often said that children have always been part of the workforce. With the onset of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, children were exploited under miserable conditions in factories, and a movement against child labor began. A worldwide campaign increased awareness and alerted international organizations and governments to the idea that child labor would best be replaced b... More

It is often said that children have always been part of the workforce. With the onset of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century, children were exploited under miserable conditions in factories, and a movement against child labor began. A worldwide campaign increased awareness and alerted international organizations and governments to the idea that child labor would best be replaced by child education.

The current objectives of such a campaign seem simple and laudable but the issues involved are complex and questions must be answered: What actually is child labor, and what determines childhood? How many child laborers are there in the world? Is child labor restricted to developing countries or is it frequently used in order to stigmatize the non-Western world? Is regulation of labor conditions the solution or should governments and civil society opt for a radical ban? Is there a role for corporate social responsibility?

Kristoffel Lieten is professor of child labour studies at the International Institute of Social Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

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