Child labour in affluent societies: law's influence on attitudes and practices

The thesis traces the influence of law on the institutional practices and attitudes concerned with child labour, using a comparative approach. It has been suggested, that the adoption of International Instruments relating to children and young people, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child, will be able to change attitudes towards children. Views of children and childhood have both influenced laws, framed with a view of protection, and have been influenced by them. This interdependent relationship is explored in three affluent States. Affluent societies have been selected rather than countries in transition, as developments in the regulation of child work are less likely to be determined by poverty and expediency than by the regard for the interests of young people. The three States are California, one of the States of the United States, the Netherlands, and the Island of Aruba, a semi-independent State within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The States selected occupy different positions within the international legal framework. The United States has so far not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child or other Conventions related to children, the Netherlands has ratified most children's rights Instruments, whilst Aruba only recently accepted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In order to be able to cover the various activities by young people, which can be regarded as 'work', use is made of a comprehensive definition of the concept of 'child labour*. This definition not only covers traditional children's jobs, but also juvenile prostitution, one of the 'worst forms of child labour1, targeted by ILO Convention 182. Views of work construct children as different from adult workers. Some work, considered suitable for children, is considered important for its educational value only. Other activities are thought to lead to the loss of childhood of the young people involved, who need to be both protected as helpless victims and kept under control. According to the philosopher Habermas, the legitimacy of law depends on the extent, to which equal consideration is given to the interests of all involved individuals. This is possible, if a system of legal norms is built on a process of discourse, in which participants are able to regard each other as equals. The discourse principle allows the addressees of law to be involved at the same time in its formulation, thereby satisfying both the private and public autonomy of participants. The attitude of children to labour controls on their work is explored in the light of the discourse principle. Recent developments in the field of children's rights have led to changes in the perception of children from mere objects of concern into social actors. Such developments have been promoted by the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which constructs young people both as rights subjects and individuals entitled to care and protection, regardless of inequalities of gender, class or ethnicity. The thesis explores the rationale for the recent changes in legislation concerned with the work of children and young people with the purpose of examining, whether the views of young people are taken into account. An important question is to what extent attempts are made to balance existing patterns of thought with new modes of thinking, promoted by International Instruments, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As the views of people involved, are of crucial importance, use is made of a fieldwork study of the views of young people and of adults, administered in California and the Netherlands. Also a number of respondents working with children and young people in various capacities, were interviewed in the three States in the comparison. According to the analysis of the developments in the three States in the comparison, the process, by which the child labour legislation has been conceived in the Netherlands, corresponds most closely to the ideal of law, in which the addressees of law also engage in its framing