| This thesis suggests that children are economically exploited because they occupy a position of social, political, and economic vulnerability and dependence within the family and political economy. An examination of the principal inadequacies of child labour theories and their failure to address the concept of exploitation helps to highlight the necessity of viewing this problem as one embedded in both the global political economy and socio-cultural traditions and practices, specifically the structural vulnerability that places children at risk of exploitation. This paper concludes by suggesting that the child rights approach as presented in this thesis, and informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, has the potential to end the continued exploitation of children by empowering children, and their families and communities, to ensure that their right to be protected from exploitation is secured. |
