The International Labour Organisation’s efforts to fight the worst forms of child labour with an
international ban would do more harm than good to poor countries. That is the conclusion of
new research by Professors Sylvain Dessy and Stéphane Pallage, published in the
Economic Journal. They argue that poverty alleviation is a much better way to target a
reduction in the worst forms of child labour.
After decades of vain fights against child labour, the ILO has now decided to limit the crusade
to the worst forms of child labour – drug-trafficking, underground mining, deep-sea fishing,
bondage, prostitution, etc. On the face of it, this crusade seems easier to win: no one really
questions the goal. But the ILO intends doing the job with its most precious weapon: legislation
through an international convention banning the practice.
But the worst forms of child labour are all intrinsically linked to poverty. Either poverty makes
parents choose to submit their children to these kinds of activities (in which case the ban will
constrain them further) or poverty acts as a catalyst to child trafficking by making it very difficult
for parents to provide the right supervision of their children. In the latter case, the ban is
redundant: child trafficking is already recognised as a criminal activity worldwide.
Reducing poverty will have far more impact in reducing the worst forms of child labour than an
international ban. The ban might also help to achieve the desired goal (assuming that it can be
enforced), but it would do so in a way that would have negative effects on the whole economy,
not just the poorest people.
Indeed, when the worst forms of child labour reflect a choice, it can only be so because they
pay substantially better than other forms, considered non-harmful. In this case, the research
shows that the existence of a market for the worst forms of child labour helps to keep wages in
the market for the ‘good' forms of child labour sufficiently high to help poor families finance
their children's education.
A ban on the worst forms of child labour, by forcing all working children into the market for nonharmful
child labour will lead to an overall drop in children's wages, with adverse
consequences for the welfare of all poor families and possibly on a country's accumulation of
‘human capital’ – the skills it needs for development.
The research offers a new perspective on the worst forms of child labour and policies to
reduce their occurrence. The point is that using legislation like the ILO convention for this
purpose is far from the best option. It focuses on curing the symptoms and may fail to address
the causes of harmful forms of child labour, of which poverty is the prime component. Poverty
alleviation measures are thus a much better suited and more natural mechanism.
Neglecting better focused policies would amount to punishing those whose misery is so stark
that horrible forms of child labour become the best option. A food-for-education programme, for
example, might help boost support for a ban on harmful forms of child labour. Because it
relaxes the liquidity constraint of the poor, a food-for-education programme may encourage
families to have children spend more time at school, which may be sufficient to offset the
negative wage effects of the ban.
These results should not be interpreted as suggesting that child prostitution or dangerous work
are good and should be encouraged. Rather, they suggest that these activities have an
economic role in poor countries that cannot be ignored. Banning them without taking
appropriate steps may have adverse effects on the well-being of families.
ENDS
Notes for editors: ‘A Theory of the Worst Forms of Child Labour’ by Sylvain Dessy and
Stéphane Pallage is published in the January 2005 issue of the Economic Journal.
Dessy is at the Department of Economics and CIRPEE, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, QC, G1K
7P4, Canada; Pallage is at the Department of Economics and CIRPEE, Université du Québec
à Montréal, PO Box 8888, Downtown Station, Montreal, QC, H3C 3P8, Canada.
For further information: contact Sylvain Dessy on +1-418-656-2131 ext. 6672 (email:
sdes@ecn.ulaval.ca); Stéphane Pallage on 1-514-987-3000 ext. 8370 (email:
pallage.stephane@uqam.ca); or RES Media Consultant Romesh Vaitilingam on 0117-983-
9770 or 07768-661095 (email: romesh@compuserve.com).