Webinar Series Part 2 - Root Causes Child Labour

What are the root causes of child labour? Focusing on the root of the problem is the direction of the compass we need to go.

Be Slavery Free - Embode 5 Part Webinar Series

The Be Slavery Free - Embode webinar series held in 2021 explores the complexities of child labour. Together with experts that have on-the-ground experience the series explains the laws, the root causes and the remediation frameworks that exist.

The second in the five-part series looks at The Root Causes of Child Labour. Our panelists for the webinar, carefully chosen because of their expertise; were Ms Ugur Gulderer from Young Lives Foundation (Turkey) and Mr Kevin Bosson from Lindt Sprungli (Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana).

The Root Causes of Child Labor

What are the root causes of child labour? It is essential to understand the problems and causes of child labour before looking at the solutions. Without a genuine appreciation of the risks and root causes, we run the risk of designing ineffective tools and programmes in responding to child labour. This ends up wasting time, resources and opportunities to help children out of their situation and supporting their right to education, play, and a healthy environment in which to live and grow.

In this webinar we look at understanding the root causes, discussing how causes interact with enablers and push factors. Causes and enablers are explored from the contexts of different regions and countries. Short term domestic emergencies, health-related disasters in the home or migratory labour demands, along with other cultural, economic and political factors intertwine and push children into precarious situations. In turn, risky situations can lead children to become vulnerable to various forms exploitation, violence and abuse.

As Ms Ugur Gulderer from Young Lives Foundation shares in her presentation; over 720,000 child labourers are estimated in Turkey (excluding Syrian refugee children), and the reasons are socio - economic, cultural, political and COVID-19 related reasons.

We also hear from Mr Kevin Bosson who speaks about his experience specifically in West Africa, namely Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. Talking directly from his own valuable experience, Kevin's presentation looks in depth at the economic development, socio - cultural and political factors.

Despite the discomfort of sitting with the problems, in this webinar we focus specifically on the root causes without reaching for solutions. We believe this is fundamental step in understanding what needs to be done next.

The webinar can be found here.