Child workers; are children who work long hours, often in dangerous conditions, for very little pay, to contribute to the livelihood of their families, and are deprived of the activities and education of their peers. This has always been an important problem in the past and today. The employment of children as workers is legally prohibited and carries a penalty. Unfortunately, these penalties remain with only a small amount of fines in our country. Some people argue that more deterrent sanctions should be applied to people who employ child labor. There are also non-governmental organizations that deal with this issue directly. So, should more sanctions be applied to those who employ child labor?
First of all, the problem of child labor is bigger than it seems, because of how right it is to deprive children of our future education. According to the latest data, there are 720,000 child workers in Turkey. In addition, child labor negatively affects children’s mental, social, physical, and psychological development. When we look at it in this way, the existence of such a section in society opens the door to social discrimination. Workplaces or individuals that force so many children to work are punished with only a small amount of fines. If there is no update to the penalties, I do not think that this situation will end. While the workplaces think that they make a profit according to themselves, they ignore the future of the country and child workers. I am sure that with more sanctions and inspections, the number of child workers will decrease. This is the case not only for Turkey but also for the whole world.
For example, the first among these sanctions should be imprisonment. The prison sentence is a serious punishment, of course, its duration must belong so that such companies do not even dare to do such a thing again. In addition, it is possible to overcome this problem with continuous inspections by the state and non-governmental organizations.
I wish this situation never happened because those children will never be children again. They will not be able to have social activities in their circle of friends like other children. We can end this by making our voices heard. In other words, more severe sanctions should be introduced to eliminate child labor. Families and people should be made aware of this issue. For economic difficulties, the state of that country should provide assistance to families. The goal is to reduce the number of child workers to zero. NO to child labor for a bright future!