Children are regarded as a source of hope and inspiration for the future. Every child has the right to survival and protection. Yet, a vast majority of children are denied their fundamental rights as a result of child labor. This is the term used when children are physically, economically, and socially exploited and abused in order to work and slave for others. Child labor is spreading today at an uncontrolled rate in developing countries and The Clean Clothes Campaign tries to convey this issue in their article, "What Are the Causes of Child Labor?" The Clean Clothes Campaign is an international network with the goal of improving working conditions for underprivileged children.
        According to the author, it is now known for a fact that child labor is very strongly associated with poverty. Families living under extreme conditions of poverty, have the choice of starving their children to death or sending them out to work at an obscenely young age in order to ensure their survival. Along with this lack of education makes a powerful contribution towards the rapid spread of child labor in South Asia. Furthermore, the author states that child labor is also encouraged by employers and each of these factors is what the writer aims at and conveys its contribution to child labor in his article.
        The author supports his main points with credible sources and effective examples and displays a thorough knowledge of the situation. For example, when he writes that, "Work that ruins children's health or that denies them the chance to receive an education certainly makes it more likely that they will stay poor in the future," he supports this claim with a credible quote from the International Labor Office which states," Today's child workers will become tomorrow's unemployed adults and their own children will in turn be forced to work." The author's realization that education is also a vital factor in determining the rate of child labor is greatly significant. He supports this claim by writing about the Global March Against Child Labor and its aim to "integrate working children in school." Finally, the author writes how employers exploit the tender age of these children who are content with what they are given and employees take benefit from this.
        I agree with the author when he writes that "child labor is undoubtedly linked with poverty." The simple, narrow views of the destitute do not enable them to realize that what they are creating is really a vicious cycle of poverty, as he writes, "Today's child workers will become tomorrow's adults and their own children will in turn be forced to work." Thus, the cycle continues, and families become more and more dependent on the negligible amount of money a child brings home after a day's heavy labor. Thus, it can be concluded that the correlation between child labor and poverty is a strong one. Child labor cannot be eradicated unless that state gives more attention to the voices of the destitute. Unless the authorities make constructive steps towards the eradication of poverty, more and more innocent children will be forced to sacrifice their happiness and childhood. Similarly, I agree that lack of education is a major contributor. Children receive very little, if not any, education since parents perceive the benefits of education to be very low compared to the costs. As a result the literacy rate is approximately nil and I agree with the writer that children will have a more secure future if given the opportunity to learn to read. The narrator also claims that child labor is also contributed to by the employers because their tiny fingers do a better job at certain chores. I concur with the author when he writes that the innocence of these children is ruthlessly exploited as they are paid half the wage an adult would have been paid for doing the same job.
        Child labor is indeed a significant problem and the author has very clearly established its reasons to poverty, ignorance and greed. Child labor is being denied the attention that it truly deserves simply because the victims of this problem are innocent children who are unable to defend themselves. I fully agree with the author and his three main causes for child labor as they have been supported with valuable credentials and examples.