Labor Exploitation
Child Labour
The United Nations treaties on human rights are signed by nations, however these standards do not apply to companies , and while there are still many areas of concern in regards to governments' treaty compliance, industrial action is self regulated. There is growing international concern regarding business practices, which include exploitation, sexual abuse and forced labour, torture and incidents of murder.
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A child works under strenuous conditions at a gear shop in Vietnam. Especially in manufacturing plants receiving foreign production requests, child labour is a rampant problem as competing nations try to drastically reduce cost and increase production in a highly competitive labour market. |
There are common links between those concerned with environmental degradation and groups supporting the rights of Indigenous people. It has been suggested that one of the most effective tools for preventing environmental degradation, is to actively support the human rights of the local Indigenous people at the local and International scale .
The UN has set goals to eradicate childhood poverty, achieve universal education, promote gender equality and improve health. This goal is highly unlikely to be achieved by their proposed 2015, unless there is a substantial effort directed into equity and social justice issues.
Third world countries have little child labour regulation and this exposes children to the risk of exploitation and deprives them of the opportunity for an education furthering the cycle of illiteracy and poverty.
Marginalised children in the western world also have poorer educational outcomes, nutrition, and health. This results in less employment opportunities as adults, and significantly reduced life spans .
The spread of media access has allowed Western communities to appreciate some of the problems faced by children in disadvantaged areas. There are many organisations, which provide aid and support for these children. These include UNICEF, and many non-government agencies, which are increasingly global in both membership and outlook. There are many church affiliated groups encouraging individuals and families to extend their support via sponsorships of children. While these assist those children significantly, there is little assistance to the underlying cause of poverty in these areas.
Profits and Exploitation
Trans-National Corporations (TNC's) reduce production costs and increase the flexibility of their production systems to maximise shareholder profit.
Shareholders are often unaware of national or local issues such as unemployment conditions or environmental pollution.
Often boardroom decisions seem reasonable, but have unforseen impacts at the local scale because they lack understanding of local conditions.
Mining exploration consortiums have increasingly marginalised Indigenous people , who have received little compensation for the loss of their traditional territory . In many cases governments have supported the ousting of the traditional owners .
While developing world nations feel compelled to accept trade agreements, there is an emerging acceptance that these in fact give most benefit is derived to the dominant nations
