SEC S17W2: "Protecting children"

Asalam alikum, I hope all steemians are doing great. I am excited to participate in the contest and look forward to reading entries from fellow steemians.

source

In your own words, what does Child Slavery mean and what are its most common manifestations?

Child slavery is a phrase that means exploitation of children against their will for many purposes. Child slavery can be manifested in many ways: Children can be forced to work in unfriendly situations and places like in domestic help, in factories and industries especially carpet industries where young children are preferred to weave carpets. We come across many examples of physical and sexual abuse of children who are working as domestic help as they support their families. Child slavery is manifested in child trafficking for labor and for sexual abuse.

source

Bonded labor is another dangerous way in which child slavery is manifested. Here children are forced to work with someone for paying off the debt of the family. These types of children are very vulnerable. There was famous bonded laborer by the name of Iqbal Masih in Pakistan. He managed to escape the carpet factory where he was bound to work as a bonded laborer. He then became voice for many children like him; he was called to international conferences on children rights. When he came back to Pakistan, unfortunately he was killed by those who wanted to suppress his voice.
These are some of the form were children rights are exploited and they are forced to work in vulnerable situations.

How does forced labor impact the lives of children?

source

Forced labor has a very bad influence on the life of children. It first of all snatches right of a child to live under the supervision of his parents. It deprives him of his right to freedom and peace. Thirdly it deprives a child of his right to get education and most important his personality making and grooming takes a very wrong way. Some lose their ability to think with reason, others develop feeling of revenge and become resilient. And some even run away and fall into more dangerous situations.

What strategies do you consider effective to eradicate forced child labor?

First of all, every child should be given the right to avail free education and food by the state. Secondly, those who are involved in forced labor of children in any way should be subject to law and dealt with no leniency. Thirdly, awareness about the consequences of child labor should be raised through various channels, which will impart knowledge in parents about pros and cons of child labor.

Do you think it is fundamental for children to have the freedom to fully develop and fulfill their dreams? Explain your answer.

Yes I agree that every child should be given the right to develop and to fulfill their dreams. Because every child is so special in its own self, if their mental growth is stopped for the reason that they are supposed to obey what their masters want then it’s tantamount to killing their creative and curious nature.
Children who are suppressed and deprived of freedom develop many complexes which usually people around them are not aware of, these complexes make them behave in abnormal ways and unfortunately they are unable to see judge it themselves as their judgment is not rational.
Children do need supervision and they need to be corrected at times, but there is proper method of doing so. Limiting them to a specific thing and hindering their growth is only adding to their adversities.
I invite @abdulhakeen, @safdarali, @mandate, @moyeon and @ahsansharif for this contest.