Child Labor
Text of the Resolution
| Category: | Human Rights | Strength: | Strong | Proposed By: | Santa Barbara |
|---|
GIVEN that many nation states see fit to employ children under age 12 in manual labor and industry,
GIVEN that these industries and labor are often highly detrimental to a child's body and health,
BELIEVING that it is a fundamental right to be given the chance to grow up educated and free from unneccesary disease, injury, and possible death from industrial work,
ASSERTING that it is immoral and atrocious to force children , by manipulation, authority or raw strength, to work for corporation or state,
Be it hereby resolved that the UN shall guarantee the rights of children to NOT work in any mines, factories, chemical plants or ANY OTHER industrial occupation; moreover, it shall be prohibited for a child to take up labor in such an occupation.
- Votes For: 16,512
- Votes Against: 3,394
- Implemented: Tue May 13 2003
Controversy
Many political analysts throughout the world considered the Child Labor resolution an enlightened and beneficial proposition for humanity, but a minority disagreed. The resolution was proposed by none other than Bob Pratt, President of Santa Barbara, and the incongruency between the values highlighted in the text and the hypercapitalist views of President Pratt lead many to question the validity of this resolution.
In one conspiracy theory, the ulterior motive of Mr Pratt was to limit the capacity of developing nations to improve their economies, ultimately making for less competition for the PrattCo Conglomerate. There is some evidence to suggest this may have truth in it; Santa Barbara officially abandoned the United Nations after the resolution was passed, and was therefore not obligated to follow the child labor resolution (that nation's constitution had no similar labor protective laws.)
