The economic exploitation and maltreatment of defenseless young children are violations of their basic human rights.
Even when permitted by law, child labor may be harmful.
Insofar as child labor abuses are tied to family poverty, they cannot be tackled alone, without regard for the economic needs of these families.
The idea that children are primarily of sentimental value, rather than of economic value, is a fairly recent historical development.
Parents may not understand the harms associated with child labor, believing instead that they have a right to make use of all their human resources.
Although child labor may help individual families in their day-to-day efforts to survive, ultimately it perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
As such, it has enormous social costs.
In depriving children of their rights and subjecting them to harm, exploitative child labor has enormous human costs. (p. 151).