BIENESTAR UNIVERSITARIO

From a human rights perspective, the degradation of the child’s health, as a result of child labour amounts to an infringement to his rights to health. The right to health for every human being is guaranteed by most human rights instruments. The right to health for everyone is guaranteed by Article 25(1) of the UDHR.584 The right to health is closely connected to the rights to life in that the lack of good health threatens the life itself. Therefore, any activity or any attempt toward the violation of the right to health poses a potential risk for the right to life. The right to health is also promoted by the CRC, which requires States Parties to guarantee the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of health.585

The emphasis on the highest standard of health for the child evidences the poor record of child health worldwide as a result of various child abuses, including child labour, child trafficking, and other social issues. At the regional level, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child has emphasised the necessity to guarantee the right of the child to health. Equally, the Charter urges States Parties to take the necessary measures in order to guarantee the best attainable state of physical, mental and spiritual health for the child.586

583

Ibid.

584

Article 25(1) ‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.’

585

Article 24(1) ‘States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.’

586_{Article 14(1) ‘Every child shall have the right to enjoy the best attainable state of physical, mental and}

177

Indeed, the concept of the worst forms of child labour characterised by ILO Convention No 182 helps to focus attention on children’s right to health, as well as on the work they perform. These forms of child labour are not only the most intrinsically harmful, but they are also the ones that are performed by the most vulnerable children. The boundaries of hazardous work are, therefore, not always easy to draw, especially when the harm done to children cannot be detected in the short term.

The general evidence is that, wherever the child performs it in the world, work may harm a child through the task itself; the tools used, the hours or conditions of work, or any other factor that affects his or her physical, mental, emotional, psychological, moral or spiritual development. Health and safety hazards for workers under the age of 18 are greater than those for adults. Because of their process of growth and development, children are more susceptible to occupational hazards, and exposure to dust, chemicals and other substances, as well as physical strain, and this can cause irreversible damage to their growing bodies. Chronic physical strain on growing bones and joints causes stunting spinal injury and other lifelong deformations.

Moreover, tasks that are harmless for well-built, well-fed children may harm those who are malnourished. To some extent even, light work can be dangerous for children who become exhausted at the end of a long working day. Lack of maturity and experience may lead children to take or accept risks that their older colleagues would know to avoid, and machinery and tools designed with adults in mind are unlikely to be adapted to the physical and mental capacities of younger workers. There may be other, less obvious, but nonetheless debilitating effects on children of work that, at first sight, appears innocuous, such as heatstroke incurred through long hours herding animals or exposure to agrochemicals through vegetable cultivation.587

The analysis of these general patterns of health hazards, encountered by children while undertaking diverse works, leads to the conclusion that children are an endangered social category in any place of the globe where child labour is practiced. The particular case of child labour on cocoa and coffee plantations in Ivory Coast, which is the subject of this research, does not constitute an exemption.

587

See The report of the director-general, ‘A Future Without Child Labour’ Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (International Labour Office, Geneva 2002).

178

Boyden states that, “it certainly cannot be presumed that the effects of work on children are the same as those on adults; there being major physiological, psychological, and social differences between the two groups which significantly influence susceptibility to hazards.’ 588

According to Boyden, because of their immaturity and because they are in a state of growth and development, children may be seriously jeopardized by work which presents little or no risk to adults.589

It is demonstrated that children have a relatively higher level of energy expenditure than adults and energy lost through work can, therefore, jeopardise healthy growth and development. Moreover, children are not physically suited to undertaking long hours of strenuous or monotonous work. Children are more susceptible to accident and injury than adults. Carrying heavy loads or being forced to adopt unnatural positions at work can lead to deformation of the spinal column and sometimes of the pelvis.590

The realistic aspect of the debate ought to be an emphasis on the fact that children being still in the growing process have particular characteristics and needs that must be taken into consideration. Children differ biologically from adults due to the rapid growth and development of the organs and tissues and the body as whole. Children and adults also differ in terms of body composition, which in children entails a larger surface area in relation to weight. They have a higher metabolic rate and oxygen consumption and, therefore, a greater intake of air and greater energy and fluid requirements per unit of body weight.591 The adverse effect of child labour on the health of the children exploited on cocoa and coffee farms in Ivory Coast raises the question of the constant violation of the child’s right to health.