Fighting Child Labor: League of Nations’ Cooperation

The horrors of child labor after the great war have come to light. With  extreme working conditions of long hours, low pay, and few breaks, the League of Nations gathers to combat child labor worldwide. The production of war materials, due to the great war, has hindered progress towards the expungement of child labor. Despite setbacks due to the war, the newly created League of Nations finally pledges to combat the reprehensible conditions children all over the world face. Preventing children from working in factories and any other setting is imperative, due to the harm children can face while working.

Lewis Hine’s photograph of three young fish cutters working at the Seacoast Canning Co. in Eastport, Maine, documented child labor in the United States (National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).

Children in many countries work in heavy machinery factories, with almost 1 million children working in the factory setting in the US alone. With such a high percentage of children constantly facing the possibility of injury due to no regulations, a change must be made. The potential for change is exemplified through the Kingdom of Romania’s labor code, which sets a wage requirement, enforcing children to attend school instead of work, and sets a guideline of working conditions and rights. Giving workers rights allows a safer environment for children and adults, decreasing the injury rate and promoting progress. 

Ensuring better conditions for all people is the end goal for the League of Nations, with many resolutions proposing regulation of conditions, such as working hours and wages. The delegations of Bolivia, Peru, and Uruguay plan to do just that, with their resolution 1.1, which plans to create non-governmental organizations, grants, and yearly inspections. Bringing child labor to a halt is also the goal of the delegations of the Kingdom of Romania and China. With their resolution K.I.S.S., kids in school systems, they plan on creating a new UN law/code, which requires all nations to ensure children are in school, not factories. With this code in place, the goal of no child labor will be backed by the end of trade and trade sanctions with non participating nations by nations in the League. 

The progress and like-mindedness shown in the League of Nations(LoN) exemplifies how child labor is truly abominable, with each country present  agreeing with the need to end child labor. With the cooperation present in the committee, true progress has been made to put an end to child labor. With the amazing work done in the LoN, children worldwide will be able to receive an education instead of working in harsh conditions.

Sources:

Maki, Reid, and CLC Contributor. “Reid Maki.” Stop Child Labor - The Child Labor Coalition, Reid Maki https://stopchildlabor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/logo.png, 18 Feb. 2025, stopchildlabor.org/. 

Delegation of the Kingdom of Romania

Delegation of Peru

Delegation of Uruguay

Delegation of Bolivia

Delegation of China

By Alessandra Roberts

March 22nd 1922