Children’s Work and ‘Stopping Child Labour’

Summary

Based on a presentation to a workshop on Supporting Working Children called by Consortium for Street Children, CHETNA, Child Hope and Comic Relief.

Work is usually central to the lives of children with street connections, and some of this work can be harmful to them. Child labour is, therefore, a problem for interventions to support these young people. To ensure that intervention supports young people, rather than further damages their limited opportunities, we need a clear understanding of the benefits and harm conferred by work in their lives. This paper focuses on confusion that frequently arises in discourse about ‘child labour’.