Rutgers Global Child Labor Forum

The Center for School and Community-Based Research and Education, via the NJ Safe Schools Program, at the Rutgers School of Public Health (SPH) along with the Rutgers Student Chapter of the NJ Public Health Association and the Student Governing Association of SPH will host a occupational safety and health (S&H)-focused “Global Health!” event for undergraduate, graduate and professional students and faculty to attend in mid-April, 2014. The theme is child labor in less developed countries (LDCs). The main objective/goal of this event is to increase working knowledge, raise awareness, and potentially change attitudes (KAAs) among Rutgers students to modern issues in international child labor and in minority/non-English speaking young adult labor in the U.S. Topics inherently covered include personal exposures/risks to S&H, wage and hour and child labor laws based on age, human rights, and “cross-border” issues. We will also highlight U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division and/or Bureau of International Labor Affairs grantees addressing child labor in agricultural and non-agricultural populations. These grant-based awards in the past and present (in 2012-2015) were in targeted LDCs worldwide. We also organized those LDCs by World Health Organization administrative regions to facilitate a student’s selection and participation in one region during smaller group roundtables. These discussions focused on present-day examples of child labor observed in the home countries of participants and/or while on travel for work and/or vacation. Finally, we summarize process data, countries (and regions) included in the roundtable discussions, and the immediate impact of this event on KAAs.