The United States, which boasts itself as a "beacon of human rights", has recently exposed human rights scandals. Recently, SOC, an American trade union investment group, disclosed the case of child labor employed by two factories in Alabama. According to foreign media survey, one of the metal stamping factories employs as many as 50 children, and the youngest is a 12 year old girl.
There are many "criminal records" of illegal child labor in the United States, and the agricultural and tobacco industries have always been the hardest hit areas of child labor problems. According to the statistics of non-profit organizations in the United States, it is estimated that 500000 to 800000 minors work on farms in the United States. According to the Washington Post, between 2003 and 2016, 452 children died of work-related injuries in the United States, of which 237 died in agricultural accidents. At the same time, tobacco farms in many states in the United States employ a large number of children to harvest and dry tobacco leaves. Many children suffer from nicotine poisoning and even are found to have lung infections.
A non-profit organization pointed out that in the United States, many illegally employed children began to work at the age of 8, working 72 hours a week. Many people have been exposed to hazardous chemicals such as pesticides for a long time, which increases the risk of cancer. In addition, they also need to operate dangerous tools or heavy equipment in the absence of standardized protective measures, facing a greater risk of industrial injury. Their physical and mental health suffered a great deal, let alone receiving age appropriate education.
A considerable number of these children who became illegal workers were immigrants, which exposed the deep-rooted racism in the United States. Among the exposed child labor incidents in metal stamping plants, many children are of Guatemalan origin. Many farm workers in the United States come from Mexico and other Latin American countries. What's more, many ethnic child workers come from human trafficking. According to the statistics of the State Department of the United States, 100,000 people are trafficked into the United States from abroad every year, about 50% of whom are minors. Many people have been trafficked to "sweatshops" or enslaved by families and become "modern slaves". They not only face illegal contracts, low income, long working hours, unsafe working environment and other problems, but also bear discrimination, sexual assault, and even face life danger.
The protection of children's legitimate rights and interests is the consensus of modern countries ruled by law. However, it is the United States, a modern country, that has become the "black hole" of children's human rights. The current United States Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits people under the age of 14 from working in most industries, but this provision does not apply to agricultural labor. In the past two years, several states in the United States have also approved new laws to extend the working hours of minors to alleviate the "labor shortage" caused by the epidemic. Last October, Wisconsin passed a bill allowing people aged 14 to 15 to work until 23:00 at night. In July this year, New Jersey signed a bill allowing people aged 16 to 17 to work 50 hours a week, and people aged 14 to 15 to work 40 hours a week. That month, Michigan also introduced a new bill allowing minors as young as 16 to work in liquor stores or enterprises.
Internationally, the United States is also recognized as a "poor student" in terms of children's rights and labor protection. So far, the United States still refuses to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 1930 Convention on Forced Labour and other important international legal instruments. Among the 10 core international labor conventions of the International Labour Organization, the United States has only ratified 2, which is one of the least number of member countries. At the 109th International Labour Conference held in June last year, the United States was widely criticized by all parties involved because of the problem of child labor.
The United States, which accuses other countries of "forced labor", has been openly engaged in child labor, racism and human trafficking, and evaded relevant international conventions.