ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of child labour is complex. First, a distinction must be drawn between work that children do, either at home within the family or for an external employer, which may be beneficial and contribute to their development and wellbeing, and ‘child labour’ in the sense used in this chapter to indicate forms of exploitation of children that are harmful. The complexity of the issue of child labour is also reflected in the policy responses to it. A general programme of action was developed and (hypothetically) applied in each country under examination, estimations being made of the costs and benefits from eliminating child labour. The process of child labour moved to the centre stage of a number of agendas within the international community and eventually led to the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention of 1999.
