AboutLe Anne Clausen Expertise I can answer questions about human rights work as a vocation, human rights as they pertain to the Middle East and/or Muslim world, particularly Palestine/Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan. While in Iraq, I helped to investigate prisoner abuses, including those at Abu Ghraib. I can also answer questions on women's rights in the Middle East. I cannot give you legal advice.
Experience I was a human rights worker for four years in the Middle East, including Palestine, Israel, and Iraq. I also participated in a human rights delegation to Afghanistan in summer 2005. I have an MA in Christian-Muslim relations, with special study on women's issues; I also worked one year for an Arab women's grassroots human rights organization. I am currently working to build an interfaith peace-teams based human rights organization
Publications "Be the Healers" (considering next steps for addressing the Abu Ghraib scandal), July 2004 edition, "The Lutheran" magazine.
Also: www.christian-muslim.net; www.young-activist.blogspot.com; additional interviews and articles about me are available via Google search.
Expert: Le Anne Clausen Date: 5/12/2008 Subject: child labor
Question My question is on child labor as im writing a paper on the issue. I want to ask you about the rights of the children if they want to work. Can they work, even if they are violated or abused? Do they have to state the rights that they want to work even under harsh conditions? And Is it okay if I say: there is no way to control and regulate child labor therefore it's justified even, again, it's abused the children?
Thank You.
Answer Greetings Orn, and thanks for your question. My apologies also for the delay--life was a little crazy earlier in the week.
I don't have many resources to quote from as to whether a child wants to work. However, one of the main principles guiding this discussion would be that the child is not considered capable of informed consent for hazardous labor. Since it would have the likelihood of creating long-term damage in their adult lives, children should be prevented from these situations at all costs. There are other alternatives we must persue before child labor--such as adult worker cooperatives so the parents can support themselves without sending their children to work.
The other question you raise, that child labor can't be regulated, is that we may not catch every last offendor but this doesn't release us from the duty to try to regulate it. Just because we can't catch every criminal that harms another individual, doesn't mean that crime is justified. So the argument is kind of the same. In most countries in the world, there is some way to find evidence of abusive/exploitative child labor, and find some alternatives for holding the offendors accountable (legally or economically) and find ways to provide a safer climate for children.
For more resources, I offer you the following directory of links, via Google:
