Children and work - a special blog feature 5 October 2022
Over the past three weeks, we have published pieces by nine of our members - Neil Howard, Jessica Taft, Rebecca Raby, Elizabeth Dillenburg, Sam Okyere, Omri Grinberg, Peter Kelly, María Florencia Amigó, and Edward van Daalen - on a broad range of issues concerning children and work.
Edward van Daalen on the problems with the campaign to abolish child labour by 2025 20 September 2022
Non-hazardous work can be beneficial for children. But even hazardous child labour cannot be eliminated overnight; instead, it requires creative and localised approaches that take children’s own opinions seriously. The problem, Edward van Daalen argues, is that such pragmatism and innovation are excluded by the dominant public discourse on children’s work.
María Florencia Amigó et al. investigate the impact of climate change on child labour in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nepal, and Peru 18 September 2022
The climate crisis has had evident detrimental effects on agricultural production worldwide. Available data does not suggest that climatic shocks will generally lead to either an increase or a decrease in child labour. However, where such events do affect child labour, they are more likely to increase its incidence rather than decrease it.
Peter Kelly outlines new ways to think about young people and the future of work 15 September 2022
The ‘problem’ of young people’s transitions from school to work has been a significant feature of youth policy since the early 1980s, especially in Australia and many other developed economies. In a global economy structured by logics of neo-liberal capitalism, what is the future of work for young people?
Omri Grinberg sheds light on Israel’s reframing of Palestinian child labor 13 September 2022
Israeli state officials have gradually reframed Palestinian child labor as an issue of human trafficking and slavery disconnected from Israel’s military occupation. What does this rhetorical shift entail, and what can it teach us about Israel’s evolving decontextualization and disavowal of its violence?
Sam Okyere discusses what Ghanaian children say about their work – and how policy responses to child labour should change 11 September 2022
There is a wide gap between child protection policies and the lived experiences of working children. Policy makers must listen to these children, address poverty and socioeconomic constraints, and recognize that child labour varies considerably depending on the person and context.
Elizabeth Dillenburg highlights continuities between past and present debates on child labor in the United States 8 September 2022
Faced with an acute labor shortage, US states and employers recently pushed for younger workers to be hired. These recent debates echo themes that emerged in discussions about child labor throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Rebecca Raby investigates what Canadian teenagers think about themselves and their peers participating in early paid work 6 September 2022
Discussions about children’s work often focus on the Global South. Yet, research in Canada offers valuable insights into how young people view and experience early paid work; how these views and experiences are shaped by age, class, race, and gender; and how they are embedded in specific contexts.
Jessica Taft examines Peruvian working children’s views on child work – as well as their broader political vision 5 September 2022
Working children’s movements around the world have tried to gain a voice in the international policy conversation, but they have not been adequately listened to. Ethnographic research with the Peruvian movement of working children sheds important light on what they say and do regarding work, rights, the economy, and politics
Neil Howard argues that a better understanding of ‘harm’ within children’s work leads us away from the attempt to abolish child labour and towards a focus on child wellbeing 4 September 2022
Calls to eliminate child labour fail to listen to working children, even though removing children from putatively ‘harmful work’ can cause further harm. How, then, can harm be better understood, contextualised, and addressed?
Children and the climate crisis - a special blog feature 6 May 2022
Over the past two weeks, we have published pieces by seven of our members - Aoife Daly, Spyros Spyrou, Daniella Bendo, Noam Peleg, Tanu Biswas, Peter Kraftl, and Rongedzayi Fambasayi - on a broad range of issues concerning children and the climate crisis.
Rongedzayi Fambasayi argues that child rights are a blind spot of South Africa's High Court ruling on air pollution 4 May 2022
In a recent judgment on deadly air pollution, South Africa’s High Court described the applicants' invocation of child rights as 'opportunistic and misleading.' Could this indicate that child rights are, in fact, a blind spot of the Court?
Peter Kraftl discusses how schoolboys whose behavior was deemed 'challenging' can also challenge the climate crisis 3 May 2022
Experimental educational activities on the climate change, delivered to non-White schoolboys who were labelled as 'challenging,' raise questions about 'challenging' behaviours and the climate crisis. Who is able to utter or perform a challenge to the climate crisis, and how?
Tanu Biswas Discusses 'Decolonial Childism': Nurturing Diversity for Intergenerational Sustainability 28 April 2022
The aims of education and economy need to be aligned with the larger aim of sustaining life on this planet. Expanding the scope of education - as an intergenerational relationship that gives children access to a diversity of knowledge, choices, and resources - is a direction worth considering.
Noam Peleg Explains Why Australia's Recent Climate Change Court Ruling Is a Setback for Children's Rights 27 April 2022
Australia's Federal Court recently ruled that the country's Environment Minister has no duty of care for future generations when deciding whether to approve the expansion of coal mines. The case was originally brought by eight teenagers and a nun legally acting on their behalf. The judgment leaves children with limited recourse: they can't vote, they are ignored by politicians, and now the Court refuses to scrutinise decisions that primarily affect them.
Bendo, Goodwin De Faria, and Mitchell write on Young Climate Activists During the Covid-19 Pandemic 26 April 2022
Since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, young climate activists have found new ways to bring attention to climate issues. Among other things, they have developed an online toolkit that both educates adults and facilitates the participation of more children in the social movement.
Spyros Spyrou writes on Ethnographic Explorations with Young Climate Activists in Cyprus 25 April 2022
Young climate activists in Cyprus challenge adult notions of the pandemic as exceptional, by drawing attention to the everydayness and continuity of the climate crisis. At the same time, they retain hope, rooted in their willingness and capacity to act collectively to bring about change.
Aoife Daly writes on Access to Justice for Children and Youth in the Climate Crisis 24 April 2022
Children and youth have been driving activism and litigation to combat climate change. But how accessible is climate justice for them?