Child labour includes working children who are below a certain minimum age. It not only causes damage to a child’s physical and mental health but also keep him deprive of his basic rights to education, development, and freedom. According to statistics provided by UNICEF, there are an estimated 250 million children aged 5 to 14 years employed in child labour worldwide and this figure is continuously increasing. Child labor should not continue to exist. Not only does it put the safety and lives of children as young as 5 years old in danger, it also deprives a child from the basic right of education. The main reason that child labour exists is because of extreme poverty. Children are forced to work to fend for themselves or to support their family.

Culture plays a part in this situation as well. The children of Ivorian farmers help out at their farm to cultivate cocoa beans, so some farmers do not see any wrong in using the labor of other children. Aside from the implicated farmers though, throughout Africa, the sight of children working is quite common and not necessarily seen negatively. In fact, the percentage of children between 5 to 14 years old in the work force is between 40-50%. Going to school is so expensive for many of them, that the only alternative left is to work.

There are indeed some efforts to stop the use of child labour in Ivory Coast. However, once child labor on Ivory Coast is stopped, the economy of Ivory Coast and the global market will be evidently