At what cost economic growth?

Today's NYT features an article on child labor in China, a subject that we've been discussing in the context of human rights in my summer course at Columbia (and you know I'm going to be writing my paper soon, so expect several posts of that as I work out the kinks).

For a while now, the standard response to human rights abuses in China is that human rights need to be sacrificed, at least to some extent, to get the country to a stronger place economically. Governments who trade with China tend to chime in that a stronger economy will lead to a decrease in human rights abuses and will also promote democracy. There are some studies that back that up, and no one can really argue that the standard of living hasn't increased remarkably for many Chinese. The problem is that human rights were never something intended to be put on the table in bargaining.

People are entitled to the full exercise of human rights simply by the fact of being human, not by being American or French but not Pakistani or Chinese. Your human rights are supposed to be protected and respected whether you live in the developed world or the developing one.

Human rights abuses against children are some of the most disturbing. Certainly the most vulnerable members of society, children have little or no influence in upholding their own rights. They depend on the adults of the society they live in to look out for their best interests. And, sometimes, that does mean working.

International standards on child labor have changed in the recent past to accommodate the harsh reality that, in the developing world, if you don't work you simply may not eat. Rules against child labor for those under 18 have been amended to outlaw the worst forms of child labor only. However, the Chinese examples cited in the NYT article, among others, show how the government is trying to side-step laws by making work part of a "school internship." My guess is that by working 15 hour days in factories most of these 12-15 year olds are only going to learn that they might want to emigrate someday.