College of Law and Governance

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://repository.mu.edu.et/handle/123456789/45

Browse

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Item
    THE EFFECT OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION ON CHILD LABOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CASE OF ETHIOPIA
    (Mekelle University, 2025-06-17) BEYENESH G/TSADIK
    It is not rational to put a conclusion as trade liberalization is totally advantageous to developed countries and totally disadvantageous to those developing once. There is no conclusive finding about its effect on developing countries, According to empirical studies it's effect varies from country to country, from region to region within a single country and from sector to sector depending on different factors, like institutional quality, infrastructural development, level of economic development, social/income distribution, political stability and technological advancements. But it is inevitable fact that, the negative effects are more sever on developing countries children than developed countries. This study focuses on the negative effects of trade liberalization on children's of developing countries who are vulnerable groups in any society. It may affect child labour through different channels. The most obvious is the impact on child labour. The effect stems from changes in children’s ability to access basic goods, food, health or educational services. There is concern that decreased revenue from the reduction in tariffs could lead, to reduced government spending on social services such as education, health service etc and lack of access to such services increases child labor. This research adopted a library-based/ desk methodology i.e.it is done through readings and analysis of the primary and secondary sources of data/information that are related to the issue in question specifically and it is forward looking for Ethiopia. The data in this research are gathered from readings of primary and mostly secondary sources. The primary sources are such as the ILO convention, the Marrakesh agreement establishing the world trade organization 1994,The UN convention on the right of child, UDHR, ICCPR,ICESCR, African Charter on the rights and Welfare of Child etc and national laws like FDRE constitution, labour proclamation no.1156 /2019. The study also uses secondary sources obtained from various literatures, books, journals, articles, working papers, internet sources and researches. The main objective of the study is to examine the effect of trade liberalization on child labour in developing countries particularly, in the prospective analysis of the case of Ethiopia by taking a lesson from other developing countries that have already liberalized their trading system/ concluded bi-lateral free trade agreements. The reason why the writer opts to take experiences from Vietnam, Peru and Pakistan is that since all of these are categorized as developing countries with high prevalence of child labour and are countries under which tariff revenue is their major source of Government revenue like Ethiopia. Due to such similarities trade liberalization may affect Ethiopia in a similar way. Therefore based on findings in the above mentioned countries, the writer is interested to suggest some recommendations to the concerned bodies. The significance of the study is to inform stake holders what negative effects would trade liberalization have on children's labour iv and to find some guidelines in drafting policies. Policy drafters and law makers could give special attention to take into consideration this problem in order to minimize the effect of trade liberalization on children. Governments of developing counties themselves are also eager to attract FDI and are reluctant to respect and implement the core labor standards and this creates a golden opportunity for multinational corporations from developed countries to exploit the vulnerable groups like children. This is the case that has happened in Pakistan. The study conducted in Vietnam to assess the impact of trade liberalization on the school-work choices among Vietnamese children also reveals that, children living in provinces with higher exposure to tariff reductions due to the BTA with US were more likely to drop out of school and this adverse impact of BTA shock persisted over long period of time. There for what the researcher wants to recommend is that Ethiopia should first strengthen its economic capacity before its accession to the WTO and must be strict in implementing its labour law to protect and give priority to human right issues like child labour .The Ethiopian government should be committed and give special attention to this problem and shouldn't rush to join to the WTO before making enough preparations. Policies of the Ethiopian government should focus to benefit the children's of the poor specially poor rural children, because they can't share from the benefit of trade liberalization due to their marginalization. Policymakers should prioritize the design and implementation of targeted interventions aimed at maximizing the benefits of trade liberalization while mitigating its potential adverse effects.