The Relevance of the Adverse Childhood Experience International Questionnaire to Working Children: Knowledge Gaps and Implications for Policy Makers

(1) Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are a global challenge, prioritized in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The ACE questionnaire is widely adopted in the USA as a tool for measuring population-level trends, such as negative health, behavioral, and economic outcomes. Intuitively, children in resource-scarce settings are exposed to higher levels of trauma. To understand the global picture, the World Health Organization (WHO) adapted the ACE international questionnaire (ACE-IQ), to inform policy and target interventions. However, evaluation of whether the ACE-IQ captures the experiences of around 160 million working children remains limited. (2) I applied the ACE-IQ scoring tools to detailed case studies of working children, comparing issues highlighted by holistic assessment to those captured by the ACE-IQ. (3) The ACE-IQ struggles to capture nuance across cultural contexts. As a consequence, application of the ACE-IQ as a policy tool risks “policy failure”. The tool reflects prevalent Western concerns, such as school attendance and parental supervision, but global concerns affecting working children such as forced economic migration and famine are neglected. This limitation produces “policy myopia”, sidelining certain global challenges. (4) The ACE-IQ is a useful public health tool, increasingly used to define policy goals. However, given the limitations of the ACE-IQ, the consequences of prioritizing these particular policy goals need to be actively acknowledged and mitigated.

Are Working Children in Developing Countries Hidden Victims of Pandemics?

The consequences of the recent pandemic have been disproportionately disruptive to several social groups, including children. As developing economies have been firefighting the recent pandemic, the welfare of minors could be affected and children’s economic exploitation and abuse could increase. Therefore, the present research aims to shed light on and to investigate the association between child labour in developing countries and pandemics, including the coronavirus, through conducting a systematic literature review on previous empirical studies. The present research concludes that previous studies on non-COVID-19 pandemics have mainly focused on the African economies, while studies on the recent pandemic have focused on Asian countries. In addition, differences were observed in relation to the methodological approaches and the characteristics of minor employees and the protection services in certain countries have proven to be insufficient. Suggestions for future research and policy implications are presented.

Leisure time of working children in Addis Ababa

Based on Article 31(1), the rights of the child to rest and leisure, and applying sociology of childhood as our theoretical approach, we investigated leisure and play among working children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Data from 45 qualitative interviews shows that the reasons behind work vary among children. For some, the primary motivation for work is getting money for recreation, while others are obliged to help families. Accordingly, leisure and play have different meanings for different children.

Child Labor in Karachi: Situation and Realities Behind Increased Number of Working Children

The number of working children in Karachi is increasing day by day, and the objective of this research study was to highlight the situation and explore the reasons behind it. For this purpose, using sequential exploratory research design, data was collected from working children and parents of some of the children and was analyzed using SPSS. It is concluded that parents and their children have a wish for education but because of the cost of education and other reasons are unable.

Violence and abuse among working children in urban and suburban areas of lower Sindh, Pakistan

Background: Child labourers are exposed to an insecure environment and higher risk of violence. Violence among child labourers is an under-studied phenomenon which requires contextual assessment. Aims: We applied Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model (micro-, exo- and macro-system) to understand the interplay of individual, community, societal and policy context fuelling violence. Methods: Focus group discussions and family ethnographies of child-labourers working in common occupational sectors of suburban areas of Sindh were carried out to gain in-depth understanding of their immediate environment and abuse (micro-system). Frequency of emotional, physical and sexual violence (5–14 years; n = 634) was also determined. Indepth interviews with employers (exo-system, n = 4) and key-informant-interviews of prominent stakeholders in Pakistan (macro-system, n = 4) working against labour/violence were carried out Thematic-content analysis was performed using MAXQDA, version 8.0. Results: We estimated that 21%, 19% and 9% of children suffered from emotional, physical and sexual violence respectively. Child labourers’ interviews indicated the existence of all forms of abuse at home and in the workplace; sexual violence by grandfathers was highlighted (micro-system). Children reported frequent scolding and insults in the workplace along with physical violence that could be fatal (exo-system). The legal environment of violence in Pakistan was considered deficient as it did not address the hidden forms (touching, kissing, etc.; macro-system). Conclusion: We documented that all forms of violence were rampant among the child labourers, and improved efforts and comprehensive legislation is direly needed to alleviate the situation.

Evaluation of Beliefs and Attitudes of Child Labor Caregivers About Mental Disorders First Aid and Stigma

Background: The beliefs and attitudes of caregivers of working children about mental health issues and first aid, as well as their attitudes about the stigma of mental health problems can affect their motivation seek professional help for affected children. The aim of this study was to assess the mental health literacy of child labor caregivers about first aid for mental health and their attitudes about stigma of mental disorders.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the questionnaire was the Depression Health Literacy Questionnaire. All caregivers of working children covered by a NGO in the 17th district of Tehran who wanted to participate were included in the study. Results: Questionnaires of 129 caregivers were analyzed. Their mean age was 32.6 (±7) years. Of which 128 (99.2%) were women. Only 37 people (30.3%) were confident in their ability to help their children in case of depressive symptoms. The majority 109 (84.5%) of participants believed that asking a depressed child about suicidal ideation was harmful.Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the literacy of child labor caregivers about mental health first aid is not enough and there is need to conduct interventions including providing the necessary trainings in this area.