Child labour

What is child labor ?

Not all work done by children or adolescents should be considered as child labor. It refers to work that affects their mental, physical, moral or social health in a negative way or deprives them of the opportunity to attend school. In extreme occasions child labor involves children being enslaved, separated  from their families, exposed to serious illness and left alone in to the industrial areas.

Child labor in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is often associated with child labor and it's no surprise since there are over 7 million children aged 5-17 working in sweatshops at a minimum wage. This is due to the fact that child labor is widely accepted in Bangladesh and many families' rely on the income of the child labor. Bangladesh has been trying to fight this problem by creating a law in 2006, which prohibits employment of children under 14 years old and hazardous forms of child labor for children under 18. However this hasn't worked as well as hoped.

It was recently revealed that the Swedish clothing company H&M uses child labor to produce their products. Most of these sweatshops are situated in the impoverished areas with young children working in dangerous conditions and in factories that aren't well constructed. Most of the children are forced to work over 12 hours. Surprisingly, H&M hasn't admitted publicly to these accusations unlike other companies as Nike. For example, many companies are blind to the actions that take place in the factories since they want to produce their products in the cheapest way possible.

Even though, this matter is talked on the media there hasn't been any signs of improvement. There are organisations that try to fight child labor, such as UNICEF and the International Labor Organisation, but they haven't been able to put a stop to this on-going problem. We think that this is a serious violation against human rights, and it should be stopped. Then again, in some cases, it's better to have a chance to work in a sweatshop and be able to support your family, than do nothing. It's a better way to earn money than selling drugs or becoming a prostitute, which is also very common in third world countries. 

We decided to write about this subject, because it affects our everyday life, as we turn a blind eye to who made our clothes and in which conditions they are made. This is quite a heavy subject, but we thought that people should realize, that we are supporting this cause unknowingly.

-  Annika, Dina and Katrin

Sources: www.unicef.org, www.ilo.org, www.brodenmagazine.com

A visit to Harvard University

I was lucky enough to visit Harvard during my stay here in Boston. I walked around the main campus – the Harvard Yard (which is the oldest part of Harvard University) and got to see several classroom and departmental buildings, libraries, freshman dormitories as well as the houses where sophmores, juniors and seniors live, not to mention the infamous statue of John Harvard. I was also able to visit Harvard Business School, which is usually not open to the public.

Harvard University is a private university and one of the 8 Ivy League universities. It’s situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was established in 1636. Harvard is known as one of the best universities in the world.

I spoke with a Harvard freshman whose name is Jessica. She’s majoring in computer sciences and was kind enough to tell me more about Harvard. She was part of the 5.8 percent of applicants out of 35 000 to be admitted to the Class of 2017 and has really enjoyed studying at Harvard. She told me a fun fact about the Statue of John Harvard. Apparently all the students in Harvard call it the “Statue of the Three Lies” because of the inscription on the statue. It says:

John Harvard, Founder, 1638.

The first lie is that the person is John Harvard, when in reality it’s just some 19^th century Harvard-student. There is actually no surviving image of John Harvard. The second lie is that he was the founder, when in fact he was just a financial contributor, after whom the university was named. The third lie is the year on the statue. Harvard was founded in 1636, not 1638.

She also told me that “sexism” at Harvard didn’t end until 1999, when women were finally able to get actual Harvard diplomas and not separate ones from men. That’s when Harvard and Radcliffe University (which is a female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard) merged. Before that, the university was strictly male dominated and you couldn’t even find portraits of women on the walls. Nowadays the number of male students and female students is nearly equal.

The campus grounds are very well-maintained with lots of green parks and groomed paths. There's also lots of chairs and tables around which you can sit and study (or have lunch). You can tell that Harvard wants their students to make the most of their college years. Harvard also has many clubs, teams and free time activities for the students. The Harvard Crimson are all the athletic teams of the university. There are teams for lacrosse, golf, football, basketball, sailing, fencing, rowing etc. Harvard also has a student newspaper The Harvard Crimson which has a rivalry with The Lampoon (which is a humor magazine also at Harvard).

The visit to Harvard University was certainly a very inspiring and motivating one. Also some of the stories that I heard, regarding present and former students, proved to me that hard work always pays off at the end. Oh how I wish that one day I could study in such a prestigious university.

Here are some pictures from the main campus area:

And then some pictures from Harvard Business School:

- Sofie