Peer-reviewed article
Suppression of child labour: Brief overview of international standards
Mario Lj. Reljanović ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper reviews international standards and legal frameworks that define child labour and distinguish it from acceptable child work. It examines how sexual exploitation, trafficking, agricultural work, and household labour are treated differently across countries and cultures, despite legal prohibitions. The author argues that while the theoretical definition of child labour is clear in international law, practical implementation varies significantly. The paper proposes that examining legal frameworks can help design more effective child protection systems.
Key points
- Child labour is well-defined by international instruments, though practical application varies
- Sexual exploitation and trafficking of children remain widespread despite being criminal offences
- Agricultural and household work are forms of child labour that are difficult to detect and are sometimes culturally accepted despite legal bans
- Different countries employ different strategies to address child labour
- Legal frameworks should enable effective systems to protect children from labour exploitation
Limitations
This is a theoretical overview of international standards and does not present empirical data on the prevalence of child labour, the effectiveness of specific interventions, or outcomes for children. It does not provide evidence of what actually works in practice to reduce child labour.
Abstract
The notion of child labour is well determined by relevant international instruments and it can be said that it is theoretically unquestionable. In practice, however, there are various concerns about how to distinguish legal child work from illegal child labour. Sexual exploitation of children, as well as trafficking in children for further exploitation, are still reality in many countries of the world, although they are characterized as the worst forms of child abuse and incriminated as criminal offenses. In addition, a large share of child labour falls under labour in agriculture and household work – these are forms that are very difficult to perceive, and in some cultures and traditions are practically allowed, regardless of the existing legal prohibitions. There are also different strategies which countries are developing to approach the problem of child labour. The aim of the research is to show that the theoretical framework of the content of child labour is undisputed and that it allows clear distinction of child work from child labour. Also, by examining content and scope of basic legal institutes it can be concluded how an effective system for protecting children from labour exploitation and other forms of illicit engagement should potentially look like.