Child Labour in

Child Labour is seen in the mines of Madagascar, where mica is extracted for use for many different industries, such as in the electronic and makeup industries among others. Areas that mica mine s are present are often areas that struggle with high poverty rates, so mining mica is often the only option of income for families. With families struggling to earn a living, children often have to supplement their parents’ income. According to the findings of the US Department of Labour, in Madagascar, around 10,000 children work in the mica sector. Mining this mica is also a labour intensive process that requires going into extremely narrow and often dangerous shafts that collapse and trap or crush children or other workers inside. As well as this, workers and children are forced to go quite deep underground, often in complete darkness in order to find mica. Other risks may involve pneumonia or other respiratory issues that arise from constantly breathing in dust, and cut and skin infections that are a result of cuts or scrapes due to a lack of the appropriate tools required to mine mica. These issues are especially frequent in the illegal mines, where there are no rules or regulations protecting workers or their children. These illegal mines also puts children at risk of physical abuse, sexual abuse and modern slavery. which violates several other child rights, such as freedom from child abuse and slavery, among others. They also have no opportunity to go to school, as they are required to work all day. This limits their future employment opportunities which keeps them in poverty and continues to leave them with no choice other than to continue working in the mines for a living, encouraging the devastating cycle to continue.