Is child labor abusive at all?

Today I read a very good article on the local newspaper. It always amazes me how people from certain countries have been trying to force their standards on others.
They certainly dont know how hard it is to make a living, they certainly dont know that many children "freed" from "abusive" labor later ended up as robbers, beggar, prostitutes, .....
Ignorance is not a bliss. Even actions with good intention can do as much damage as evil deeds if you don't know what you're doing.

I often wonder if a 'democracy' forced onto another country is really democracy at all.

On child labour, though, we have to remember that the development of many 'third world' countries is, in many respects, so far behind that of the so-called 'civilised' nations that they're almost back to the days of the West's work-houses in which children worked unless their parents were wealthy enough to be able to send them to school or have them educated at home.

Perhaps part of the answer is to try to ensure that where goods are purchased from employers who use child labour, those employers have reasonable working conditions and try, at least, to provide a day or two of education for their young employees. I have no idea how that would be possible - maybe a 'fair-trade' sort of system. It might even aid the growth of those nations while preventing the affected children from ending up on the streets.

Draconian measures, such as banning the import of goods manufactured by child-labour, will only force the employers to seek other markets. Cooperation and persuasion might actually achieve something.

I agree. Those who live in countries where the standard of living is high enough that children go to school, have time off from school and have no other responsibilities don't seem to understand that that way of living isn't available to everyone.

It wasn't that long ago that children in the US worked on the family farm on a regular basis. That's why we have summer vacations from school. It's a remnant of when children were needed to plant and harvest crops. Farm children still have chores, but farm machinery and the availability of adult labor changed the role of the farmer's wife and children.

No one should have to work in a sweatshop, but no one should be reduced to begging, stealing or selling themselves either.