A Dream for a Better World

I recently watched “Funny Games” in which two guys play with families in these rich houses then kill them all including the children.  It reminded me of those distressed people who lose their jobs and kill their family in a murder/suicide.  I am sorry, but how does killing children help at all?  Why would a movie put that in their script?  Why would a man who lost his job kill his own family?  His kids?  Kids are innocent.  Yes, they do bad things, but they don’t know what they are doing, they are children.  There cannot be 1 good reason to kill a child.

I understand America is against using torture but to have the same criminal sentence for a man to kill a child versus a man killing a man, is wrong.  There just has to be stronger laws against killing children.  It is the only way to even let a bad man to prevent a child who might be in the way.

I do wish that America could consider changing their laws to make the killing of children worst than killing of an adult.

Most countries worldwide acknowledge the fact that exploiting children for regular and sustained labor should be prohibited and in most developed countries, laws do exist that prohibit the use of children under a certain age from economic exploitation.  But instituting laws against child labor may cause more harm than good in developing countries.  Many youth rights groups, other organizations and some scholars argue that banning child labor or boycotting companies that use children in their workforce only forces these children to turn to more dangerous and exploitive professions such as stone-crushing, street hustling and prostitution.  For example, in the 1990s, the U.S. banned carpet exports from India due to child labor issue and this action caused 5,000 – 7,000 Nepalese children to turn to prostitution.  As long as extremely poor families in developing countries are struggling to survive, children will be forced to work; and laboring away in sweatshops and the garment industries is a far better alternative than hustling and prostituting in the streets.

Child labor is a problem being faced by several governments around the world. The problem is particularly acute in poor countries, where poverty deprives children of a normal childhood and they are forced to earn for the family. Although eliminating child labor overnight is not possible, the efforts of many governments and also non-government organizations are slowly beginning to yield results. Stricter laws are one of the best ways to eradicate this problem. Total eradication of child labor would depend on the joint efforts of government institutions and the private sector, which is the number one employer of children in many countries, non-government organizations and advocacy groups.

Child labor is a problem that has hardly disappeared despite of several conscious efforts on the part of many governments. The problem continues to exist with millions of children generally aged below 14 working to earn a living in many parts of the world. Statistics also indicate that nearly 20,000 children lose their lives in some form of work-related accident, each year. The number of children working is unusually in the Sub-Sahara African region. It is not that there are no strict laws preventing child labor. The problem lies in no one enforcing these laws. There is also a limit to what non-profit organizations and advocacy groups can do. Finally it is the respective governments who have to compliment the effort of non-profit organizations and advocacy groups.