The West does it again...

After having the pleasure of preparing a workshop on child labour this week, my colleague Wayne and I came to some very interesting theories.

 There are to date, quite a few international regulations governing child labour but the Convention on the Rights of the Child is by far, the most acknowledged one of all. The Convention is instrumental as it brings together all the key themes in ensuring survival and protection of a child i.e. protection from abuse, exploitation, juvenile rights, health care and the like. Clearly, this is a very well drafted Convention and I believe it is a very powerful regulation. It is brilliant.

However, the harsh reality is that it is not as powerful as I would hoped it to be. Child labour is still a persistent problem in the World today. Even more disturbing is the fact that the most poweful nation in the world, the United States has yet to ratify this. The fact that US did sign the Convention in 1995 only shows half of their commitment. In fact, Somalia has also done the same as the US. The issue with Somalia is understandable, as they are a struggling, unstable nation with no sense of proper governance.

On the other hand, the US has no excuse at all. How is it possible that a country as powerful as the US, always having a say in drafting and ratifying the most important UN legilsations of all time can get away with (I dare say) murder with not ratifying this Convention? Does not this prove that they are not practising what they preach? It is, by far, the most hypocritical situation I have ever seen a country of the West to be in. This takes me back to the days of learning History at A2 level when I found out that the US basically 'ran' the whole of the UN because it had such a heavy influence over voting procedures. So,if US does not ratify a certain convention how do they expect other countries to have credibility in such a Convention and follow suit?  I guess it is excusable for such a powerful country like the US to get away with this, I mean after all, they do have 'a huge say' in how the UN is run.

So, in the meanwhile, on another related issue, the West want to ban child labour but at the same time they are the ones making the biggest purchases of diamonds (mined by children) and the like and selling them for the most exorbitant prices. This, I must say, is hypocrisy at its best.

Again, I am faced with the realisation that the world works in an  unjustified, ironic, uncanny and mysterious way.

For more information please read;
http://www.hrw.org/node/84594#_Convention_on_the_1