Child labour and health: Review of Argentine studies and exploration of alternative perspectives

Abstract

Child labour is one of the most condemned phenomena in the field of childhood problems. In Argentina, the laws and programs that are applied in relation to the regulation of labour carried out by children incorporate the recommendations of the International Labor Organization, which proposes to eradicate child labour in general and urgently if it is their worst shapes. The moral condemnation and illegality of child labour are expressed in a lack of systematic research that allows for up-to-date statistics. According to recent research, there are especially few studies that focus on the relationship between child labour and health. In this article, a review of these studies is carried out in order to indicate their characteristics and scope and, on the other hand, alternative approaches are explored that are expected to contribute to increase the understanding of the subject. The argument is that the risk to health implied by child labour is at the same time a moral conception of families.