Hour after hour, day after day, year after year, working tirelessly at a job you were forced to do for little or no pay. This is the barbaric reality of more than 100 million working children, some as young as five years old. Child labor has been around for 200 to 250 years and now is the time to take action and put an end to it. Child labor raises ethical and children's rights issues, the effects it has on working children, and the cultural beliefs surrounding child labor. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayChildren in developing countries like Bangladesh, Cameroon, Philippines and Ethiopia are encouraged to start working from a young age as it is a tradition. Www.humanium.org reports that “parents are aware of the dangers of the activities carried out by their children, but in their context of extreme poverty, they nevertheless encourage them to do so. They see it as a way for children to support themselves and perhaps even contribute to household expenses. Some cultures believe that this helps them learn and develop skills that they can then apply to their community and that will prepare them to deal with the situation as adults. However, this is not the message that families or cultures should convey for the future of society. Ethics play a major role in child labor. It becomes unethical when children are unfairly paid or not paid at all and are forced to work against their will and without their consent. Not only is this unethical, but it goes against almost every right a child has. Children who are victims of child labor are deprived of their basic rights to quality education, play, rest and a clean and safe environment. UNICEF goes on to say that "working children often work between 12 and 16 hours a day in unpleasant, unsanitary and dangerous conditions in a wide range of industries such as construction, agriculture, domestic work/services and the manufacturing industry. This goes against articles 24, 28, 31, 32 and 36 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Even though many laws have been passed to abolish child labor, this does not stop employers and companies like Nike, Nestlé and Adidas, as well as countries like Chad, India and Myanmar, from using children as a form of “cheap” labor. Poverty is one of the main factors contributing to child labor. As a child's mind continues to grow and learn new things, he is gullible and very vulnerable. Child labor can have long-term effects on a child's mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, moral and social health/well-being. Children working in manufacturing and agriculture are vulnerable to explosive gases, loud noises, sharp tools, heavy lifting, and harmful poisons and pesticides, putting them at risk of injury, d poisoning, hearing and vision loss, lung diseases and joint problems. Working children face not only physical consequences, but also mental consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The International Labor Organization (ILO) “estimates that on average, worldwide, 22,000 children die each year from work-related accidents caused by child labor...