Child Labour in India: Globalization, Power, and the Politics of International Children's Rights
Gurchathen S. Sanghera
Abstract
India has the largest number of child labourers in the world, and has been the subject of intense media and political campaigns in the North aimed at addressing the abuse of children’s rights. This book explores children’s rights as a site of power and reveals how the rights discourse has been used by international actors, national elites, and local NGOs in the child labour debate in India. While discussing the children’s rights in the contemporary world, the author analyses human rights and power along with insights from postcolonial theorists. He provides empirical accounts of how three Indi ... More
India has the largest number of child labourers in the world, and has been the subject of intense media and political campaigns in the North aimed at addressing the abuse of children’s rights. This book explores children’s rights as a site of power and reveals how the rights discourse has been used by international actors, national elites, and local NGOs in the child labour debate in India. While discussing the children’s rights in the contemporary world, the author analyses human rights and power along with insights from postcolonial theorists. He provides empirical accounts of how three Indian NGOs—Bonded Labour Liberation Front, Butterflies, and South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude—are using the discourse of children’s rights to challenge child labour practices. Combining global and local perspectives to arrive at a comprehensive picture, the book locates the struggle for child rights on two fronts: critiquing neo-liberal globalization and challenging rights violations in India.
Keywords:
Children’s Rights,
child labour,
globalization,
India,
neoliberalism,
non-governmental organizations,
postcolonialism,
power,
social constructionism
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199466801 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199466801.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Gurchathen S. Sanghera, author
teaches at the School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, Scotland.
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