IS THE ILO DEFINITION OF CHILD LABOUR A MISNOMER?
INTRODUCTION The ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) defines “child labour” as: “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that : is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children ; and/or interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work”. The above definition seems to stem from the fact that a child has no legal capacity hence assumes that all work given to a child is abusive since the child cannot decide what is wrong or right. On the other hand, was it an issue that children engaged in work in particular parts of the world we...