FORGOTTEN NUGGETS 

Putting an end to child labor in West Africa may seem like just a drop in the bucket seeing as there are presently an estimated 250 million child laborers worldwide, but no occupation is quite as perilous as artisanal gold mining.

 

Whereas eradicating child labor is a daunting task that will take some time to achieve, it is not unfeasible and it serves us well to remind ourselves that child labor laws were not established in Europe and North America until the mid-19th and early 20th century. Just 100 years ago there were still two million child laborers working in American industry, including coal mines.

 

Hopefully, child labor in West Africa will soon also be a thing of the past, but we still need to make a concerted effort to educate parents and lobby government officials.

 

Seeing as the practices that are prevalent in West Africa today reflect negatively on the entire gold mining industry, it ought to be in the best interests of the publicly traded mining companies to join us in our quest to abolish child labor in artisanal mines.