Thailand
The country
Thailand is an Asian country located in Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of Burma. Its neighbouring countries are Myanmar in the west, Laos in the northeast and Cambodia in the southeast. It is the only Southeast asian country never to have been colonized by European power. The capital city of Thailand is Bangkok and the country’s population is 68,200,824. It became a constitutional monarchy in 1932 after a revolution and the current leader is Prayut Chan-o-cha. Its natural resources are tin, rubber, timber, lead, fish, natural gas, tungsten, and fluorite. Its main industries are fishing/shrimp, sugarcane farming, textile/garment, electronics, automobiles, and tobacco. Thailand earns most of their money from exporting the products to the US, China, Japan and Hong Kong from these main industries. Thailand is in between a poor and a rich country because they have reduced a lot of poverty(still remains) and developed many infrastructures in a short period of time. Their drinking water source and sanitation have improved even in urban areas. Thailand has environment issue with water pollution from organic and factory wastes, soil erosion, and deforestation. An issue they have with humans today is trafficking. Migrant workers come into the country looking for jobs but are trafficked by Thai people. Other issues are drug dealing, pollution, and poverty.
Child Labour in Thailand
It is estimated that 8% of children aged from 5-14 are in child labour even thought the actual age to work is 15 years. To do hazardous work, children have to be 18 years old, but many are forced to do illegal, dangerous work. Despite the hazardous work, children still work because it might be to support their families who’s parents have lost their jobs and are in debt. The parents could be injured and the children are the only people who can move around to earn money. Children also may be forced to work and the parents would abandon them since they can’t afford to take care of them. When children are abandoned, they have to get a job to earn money for themselves to survive. There are many jobs that children do in Thailand such as garments, fishing especially shrimp, farming sugarcane. There are also small groups of child soldiers recruited by military groups who are not controlled by the government. Many children who do not have jobs beg on the streets/vending, asking for some change and some are kidnapped to be physically or sexually abused.
Some of the most dangerous jobs for children are in the fishing, textile industries and sexual exploitation. The dangerous machines and supplies used to make clothing and to cut up seafood can be critical to children who do not know how to use it properly. Sexual exploitation is also dangerous since anybody can murder and kidnap them to sexually abuse them since they can trap the children forever. In some industries, the children who do not listen and not work on their forced tasks get locked in a room with the boss. Then the boss hits and abuses the children which leaves them bleeding while in pain.
Textile Industry in Thailand:
In the textile industry children can do many tasks in that one industry. Dyeing, sewing buttons, cutting/trimming threads, folding, moving/packing garments, and yarn spinning mills are some of the tasks they are assigned to. They can work up to 12 hours or even more. Children can either work at factories, smaller workshops or even at home. Working in the textile industry is dangerous with the sewing machines and the thin pieces of threads can be breathed in. They can only earn about 5-60 baht (50 cents – $2) per day depending on the age, gender, and their ability to speak Thai. When auditors come to check up on the industries, children are hid by the owners so they do not get caught and shut down their businesses.
Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution
Numerous children during the Industrial Revolution were used in mines, textile factories, and as chimney sweepers. They worked for more than 12 hours some days and their bodies would have problems as well as physical/mental abuse.
In mines children would have to push carts in mine tunnels that are more than 2 km every trip. Their small body size was useful going through tunnels and for chimney sweepers too. The children health decreased rapidly while working in coal mines. For example, some would get a bald spot on their heads trying to push the carts and the pollution from coal-burning which got into their lungs. That is called the “black lung” and the body deformities from crouching in tunnels leads them to losing their jobs.
In textile factories, children worked as “scavengers” or “piecers”. The scavengers’ jobs were to pick up the loose cotton that were on the ground under the machines. The piecers’ jobs were to piece together the threads that were broken in the machines. Just like in the coal mines, their small hands and bodies let them pick out the threads easily than adults. While in the textile factories the children breathed in air that was filled with fluff and microscopic fibres that got into their lungs to cause suffocation. Since they had to reach right into the machines, their backs ached and sounds were deafening.
While working in these industries, it was a very hazardous and a cruel place for the children to work in while the owners did not care about their safety or health. Children were given low wages and in addition to that, they had to use part of their wages to get food, which were low quality. They also had to work overtime shifts which they did not get extra pay for and they were beaten.
Even though child labour is horrible and cruel, there are disadvantages if child labour is banned. For example, children needed to work to support their families since the parents lost their jobs or their low wages weren’t enough for payments. The children might need to pay off the debt for their parents. Some were abandoned by their parents since they couldn’t’ afford to take care of them so the children need to survive on their own. If there were no jobs, there would be no money, no food, no resources to live off of, and that leads to starvation/death.
Comparison between Thailand today and the Industrial Revolution
Some similarities and difference between the Industrial Revolution and Thailand today has many similar points. A similarity is that both places had the same reasons as being forced to work in the textile and other industries or they were abandoned. Both also have to work for more than 12 hours and they would get low wages. For example, a textile worker in the revolution and Thailand both start working when they are young. A difference is that Thailand has more varieties of tasks that children can do like dyeing, sewing buttons, and packaging them. On the other hand, the children in the industrial revolution usually worked as scavengers or piecers. Basically, there isn’t much differences in Thailand as it was in the Industrial Revolution which proves that the government hasn’t being paying attention in preventing the cruelness of child labour.
Attempts to Reform Child Labour
Thailand has laws/regulations on child labour to protect the children and people, but they do not really pay attention in those laws. Organizations such as ‘UNICEF’, ‘Department of Labour Protection and Welfare’, ‘International Labour Organization’ take part in a project to prevent the dangerous work being done by children and to volunteer to help the need. Although there are policies in Thailand about child labour, people are not following the laws and the government does not care about them either. If I could help I would donate some money to one of the organizations each month, even though it might be little, it can make an impact.
Citations:
Cranny,M.(1998). Crossroads:A Meeting of Nations (1st ed.). Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice Hall Ginn Canada
2012 Finding on the Worst Forms of Child Labor: https://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/findings/2012TDA/thailand.pdf
Central Intelligence Agency: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/th.html
Child Soldier International: https://www.child-soldiers.org/thailand
Child Labour in the textile & garment industry: https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Fact-Sheet-child-labour-Focus-on-the-role-of-buying-companies.pdf
Unicef: https://www.unicef.org/thailand/reallives_3780.html
The World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/overview\
Spartacus Educational: http://spartacus-educational.com/IRscavengers.htm