Child Labour in the Informal Sector: The Hazardous Livelihood of Blacksmith Children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Child labor is a widespread and growing phenomenon in today's world, especially in developing countries. Despite international labor conventions and local government legislations, child labour continues unabated. It is widely believed that children should be protected from any kind of exploitation and neglect. But in reality, unacceptable forms of exploitation on children exist in almost all parts of the world. Alike other developing countries, child labour is a pervasive problem in Ethiopia. In line with the growing concern of child labour in Ethiopia, various researches have emerged in order to understand and reverse the situation. However, these researches appear to give little attention to the problems of blacksmith children. This book, therefore, provides deeper understanding about causes and impacts child labor by taking blacksmithing activity in particular.The analysis should help shed some light on the enduring and pervasive predicaments of child labor , and should be especially useful to policy makers, governmental and non-governmental organizations, professional social workers, or anyone else who may be working to tackle the problem of child labor.