Case Study Individual Report Child Labor in Supply Chains

case study individual report child labor in supply chains

Introduction Of child labor in supply chains

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Child labor is one of the major issues which is affecting the lives of children and their families. Child labor in the supply chains is affecting almost 168 million children at a global level. The following report will address all the aspects related to child labor in the supply chain based on the case study analyzed.

Critically analyzing the issues of child labor and poverty

Child labor: a better option than living in poverty

Most of the children in the world work to support their families economically so that they can earn their bread and fill the stomach of the whole family. It is observed that most of the families and children choose to work if they are provided with the opportunity as it can help their family to have a belly full of food which is their main concern (Choet al. 2019). Therefore, it can be said that for poor people child labor is a better option than living in poverty.

Circumstances in which working is beneficial for the children

There are various circumstances where working becomes beneficial for the children like when they are facing the conditions of extreme poverty and to support their family economically it becomes very necessary for the children to work for their families and support them economically (Nakamuraet al. 2019). During the time of severe crisis also working becomes very beneficial for the children. It is also observed that some of the students also work to pay their school fees or when the main earner of the family is sick.

Child labor: A way to escape poverty

Child labor is an approach that can provide the children with the skills and knowledge of doing a particular job at a very small age, but it is never a way to escape poverty as they are not paid sufficiently which can help them and their families to escape poverty. Yes, it is an option to support the family to earn daily bread (Popovicet al. 2018). For example, 21% of the children belonging to the age group of 10 years are working in the automobile sector but still, they are paid 800-1000 Indian rupees per month which can never help them to escape poverty (Naeemet al. 2011). 

Major impacts of child labor on the child and the family

Children work to support their families economically and help them earn food for their families and start working at a very young age to support their families to avoid poverty. There are several impacts on the child and their family because of the child’s involvement in the labor activities, which are stated below:

• It tends to destroy their physical health and also affects the lifestyle of the children which becomes very unhealthy.
• There are various occupational hazards and getting involved in child labor activities keeps the children prone to such hazardous situations (Chanet al. 2020).
• This also affects the families as it affects the emotional context of the families as no parent would ever want to send their children to work at such a small age.

Social, economic, mental, and physical impacts on a child

Child labor is very much responsible for destroying the mental health of the child as the working environment makes them face various situations including the abusive language used by the supervisor which is an example of humiliation that affects their mental health. Children who are working do not spend much time with their family which is also affecting their social responsibility and the organizations also pay very little to the children which puts high pressure on their physical body but in return gives them a very small amount affecting them economically (Halldórsson, 2019). On the other hand, the children working in such conditions are also found engaged in drug or substance addictions which affects them physically and economically.

Impact of trade openness on the child labor supply chain

Child labor is the problematic factor regarding the number of counts that range from health and welfare and also depicts the physical integrity of children regarding their downward pressure on the adult wages. In recent times the increase in global trade has also increased the chances of shipping children from one part of the world to another and is increasing the chances of exploitation of the children at a global level (Anner, 2018). Trade openness is the biggest reason for the increase in the export of children and also the main reason behind the increase in the demands of child labor supporting the high wages for the supervisors and exporters (Stevenson and Cole, 2018). 

People and agencies responsible for child supply

Out of all the given option “F” is the most accurate one which can be chosen in context to the issue raised in the case study as the family (A), the government and the business organizations (B) as well as the consumers (D) all are equally responsible for the increase in the child supply and child labor across the globe. 

Challenges behind enforcing the child labor ban

There are several challenges behind not enforcing the ban on child labor, some of them are listed below:

• There are several communities where a high level of family poverty is observed the child's income will bring additional support to the food and shelter and removal of the child labor will impose economic plague on those families and communities.
• Another challenge is the lack of monitoring and enforcing the existing restrictions on the child labor supply chains (Sodhi and Tang, 2019).
• The complexity in the modern-day supply chains and the increase in trade openness due to globalization is another challenge that is affecting the enforcement of the ban on child labor.

Recommendation

Some of the recommendations for resolving the issues of child labor in the supply chain are listed below:

• It is recommended that the non-profit organizations and the government should start spreading awareness about child labor and push them towards education (Phillipset al. 2018).
• Properly monitor that everyone is following the laws of child rights protection and laws against child labor accurately.
• It is also recommended to enforce the use of the government fund and public fundraisers which can sponsor the education of the children and they can get free education, this will avoid them to work for paying the fees.

Conclusion

This report concludes that for the increase in child labor the family of the child, the government, and the business, as well as the consumers all, are responsible, and this is the reason they are needed to be more aware of not letting such things ruin the lives of the children. This also concludes that child labor affects the social and mental health of the children as well as the physical health because of being prone to the hazardous environment.

References

Anner, M., 2018. CSR participation committees, wildcat strikes and the sourcing squeeze in global supply chains. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1), pp.75-98.

Chan, H.L., Wei, X., Guo, S. and Leung, W.H., 2020. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in fashion supply chains: A multi-methodological study. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 142, p.102063.

Cho, S.H., Fang, X., Tayur, S. and Xu, Y., 2019. Combating child labor: Incentives and information disclosure in global supply chains. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 21(3), pp.692-711.

Halldórsson, Á., 2019. Actionable sustainability in supply chains. In Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management (pp. 191-203). Springer, Cham.

Naeem, Z., Shaukat, F. and Ahmed, Z., 2011. Child labor in relation to poverty. International journal of health sciences, 5(2 Suppl 1), p.48.

Nakamura, K., Bishop, L., Ward, T., Pramod, G., Thomson, D.C., Tungpuchayakul, P. and Srakaew, S., 2018. Seeing slavery in seafood supply chains. Science advances, 4(7), p.e1701833.

Phillips, N., LeBaron, G. and Wallin, S., 2018. Mapping and measuring the effectiveness of labor-related disclosure requirements for global supply chains. International Labor Office.

Popovic, T., Barbosa-Póvoa, A., Kraslawski, A. and Carvalho, A., 2018. Quantitative indicators for social sustainability assessment of supply chains. Journal of cleaner production, 180, pp.748-768.

Sodhi, M.S. and Tang, C.S., 2019. Research opportunities in supply chain transparency. Production and Operations Management, 28(12), pp.2946-2959.

Stevenson, M. and Cole, R., 2018. Modern slavery in supply chains: a secondary data analysis of detection, remediation and disclosure. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.