Hour after hour, day after day, year after year, working tirelessly at a job you were forced to do for little or no pay. This is the barbaric reality of over 100 million child workers, some as young as five years old. Child labor has existed for 200-250 years and the time has come to take action and put an end to it. Child labor raises ethical and children's rights issues, the effects it has on child workers, and the cultural beliefs surrounding child labor. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Children in developing countries such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, the Philippines, and Ethiopia are encouraged to start working at a young age because it is a tradition. Www.humanium.org reported that “parents are aware of the dangers of their children's activities, but in their context of extreme poverty, they encourage them to do them anyway. They see it as a way for children to support themselves and perhaps even contribute to household expenses.” Some cultures believe that it helps them learn and develop skills that they can then apply to their community and that will prepare them to deal with the situation as adults. However, this is not the message that families or cultures should give to the future of society. Ethics play a huge role in child labor. It becomes immoral when children are paid unfairly or not paid at all and are forced to work against their will and without consent. Not only is it unethical, but it goes against almost all of a child's rights. Children who are victims of child labor are deprived of their fundamental rights to quality education, play, rest and a clean and safe environment. UNICEF goes on to state that “child workers often work between 12 and 16 hours a day in unpleasant, dirty and dangerous conditions in a wide range of sectors such as construction, agriculture, domestic work/services and the manufacturing industry". This goes against Articles 24, 28, 31, 32 and 36 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although many laws have been enacted to abolish child labor, this does not stop employers and companies such as Nike, Nestlé and Adidas and countries such as Chad, India and Myanmar from using children as a form of “cheap” labor. . Poverty is one of the main factors contributing to child labor. Because a child's mind is still growing and learning new things, he is naive and very vulnerable. Child labor can have long-term effects on the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, moral and social health/well-being of the child. Children working in manufacturing and agriculture are vulnerable to explosive gases, loud noises, sharp tools, heavy lifting and harmful poisons and pesticides, putting them at risk of injury, poisoning, hearing and vision loss, disease lung and joint problems. Child workers face not only physical consequences, but also mental ones, including low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The International Labor Organization (ILO) "Estimates that worldwide an average of 22,000 children die each year due to workplace accidents resulting from child labor." The pressure that child labor puts on children forces them to mature much faster than any normal child would, and because of this, they miss out on their childhood. Children are the generation of the future and should receive an education that helps them achieve their dreams and goals. However, child labor prevents them from reaching their full potential and developing new, improved skills.