An African perspective on the ILO conventions on minimum age: the case of Ethiopia

The ILO Minimum Age Conventions, adopted from 1919 - 1973, got their form in the post World War I context of industrialization, urbanization, social instability and a growing trade union movement, and were modelled on the late 19th century European labour legislation. It was a time of heavy unemployment, and the workers perceived child labourers as competitors on the labour market. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries of the world with a population of 90 million and a median age of 17.5 years. Primary education has been expanded and now reaches about 75% of the relevant age-group, while only 15% continue into secondary education. The contribution of the younger generation to productivity is essential and child labour is the prevailing norm. In the Ethiopian Constitution adopted 1995, the rights of children were addressed: the right to life, to education and to protection from labour exploitation. Ethiopia is signatory to the ILOConvention 138 and its national law has set the age-limit to 14 years. Ethiopia is a beneficiary of the World Bank's lending program to strengthen market economy, which has implications for children's employment and working conditions. During 2012 we did a study interviewing children working in the agricultural sector to discern how the globalisation of economy and human rights norms affect their lives. The situation for child agricultural workers in Ethiopia is an illustration of how child workers as agents are finding ways to manage within the legal and economic structures based on experiences from the West

Health-related quality of life, assessed with a disease-specific questionnaire, in Swedish adults suffering from well-diagnosed food allergy to staple foods

BACKGROUND: Our aim was to investigate the factors that affect health related quality of life (HRQL) in adult Swedish food allergic patients objectively diagnosed with allergy to at least one of the staple foods cow’s milk, hen’s egg or wheat. The number of foods involved, the type and severity of symptoms, as well as concomitant allergic disorders were assessed. METHODS: The disease-specific food allergy quality of life questionnaire (FAQLQ-AF), developed within EuroPrevall, was utilized. The questionnaire had four domains: Allergen Avoidance and Dietary Restrictions (AADR), Emotional Impact (EI), Risk of Accidental Exposure (RAE) and Food Allergy related Health (FAH). Comparisons were made with the outcome of the generic questionnaire EuroQol Health Questionnaire, 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D). The patients were recruited at an outpatient allergy clinic, based on a convincing history of food allergy supplemented by analysis of specific IgE to the foods in question. Seventy-nine patients participated (28 males, 51 females, mean-age 41 years). RESULTS: The domain with the most negative impact on HRQL was AADR, assessing the patients’ experience of dietary restrictions. The domain with the least negative impact on HRQL was FAH, relating to health concerns due to the food allergy. One third of the patients had four concomitant allergic disorders, which had a negative impact on HRQL. Furthermore, asthma in combination with food allergy had a strong impact. Anaphylaxis, and particularly prescription of an epinephrine auto-injector, was associated with low HRQL. These effects were not seen using EQ-5D. Analyses of the symptoms revealed that oral allergy syndrome and cardiovascular symptoms had the greatest impact on HRQL. In contrast, no significant effect on HRQL was seen by the number of food allergies. CONCLUSIONS: The FAQLQ-AF is a valid instrument, and more accurate among patients with allergy to staple foods in comparison to the commonly used generic EQ-5D. It adds important information on HRQL in food allergic adults. We found that the restrictions imposed on the patients due to the diet had the largest negative impact on HRQL. Both severity of the food allergy and the presence of concomitant allergic disorders had a profound impact on HRQL

The Negotiable Child : The ILO Child Labour Campaign 1919-1973

This dissertation examines the Conventions and Recommendations to regulate the minimum age for admission to employment between the years 1919 and 1973 – the ILO minimum age campaign. The adoption process has been studied in its chronological and historical context. The dissertation has three points of departure: that childhood is a historical construction and that the legal material is part of that construction; that the minimum age campaign suffered from a ‘hang-over-from-history’, namely, the history of Western industrialisation during the 19th and early 20th centuries; and, finally, that children had a subordinate and weak position in the minimum age campaign. The study was organised around five central themes: (1) the over-all theme of predominant conceptions of children and work; (2) the relationship between industrialised and colonised and developing nations; (3) the relationship between the child, the family and the state; (4) minimum age; and (5) the importance of school. The most important results of the study are that: (1) In view of the revolutionary changes during the 20th century the continuity in the minimum age campaign was remarkable. In 1919, the ‘child labour problem’ was an issue mainly for the Western industrialised word. By the end of the campaign, in 1973, the transformations in societies during the century had made ‘the child labour problem’ an issue mainly for the developing world and with different conditions and implications in many respects. The content and ‘grammar’ of the minimum age campaign was however never really challenged. (2) The study has verified that the minimum age campaign suffered from a ‘hang-over-from history’. The campaign built directly on the Western industrial experience during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Western dominance in the ILO, the legal transplants, and the roots in the labour movement all contributed to the ‘hang-over’. (3) The minimum age campaign was modelled on the ‘norm of the Western industrialised childhood’. The norms and realities of childhood in other parts of the world were neglected of considered as provisional and inferior phases in relation to the Western ‘norm’. In this way, there were two separate childhoods in the minimum age campaign: ‘the normal’ childhood conceived for Western conditions and ‘the other’ childhood conceived for the ‘imperfect’ conditions of poor children in the colonised and developing nations.(4) In the minimum age campaign the ‘best interests of the child’ was negotiable and was subordinated in case of conflict with other interests

The Negotiable Child : The ILO Child Labour Campaign 1919-1973

This dissertation examines the Conventions and Recommendations to regulate the minimum age for admission to employment between the years 1919 and 1973 – the ILO minimum age campaign. The adoption process has been studied in its chronological and historical context. The dissertation has three points of departure: that childhood is a historical construction and that the legal material is part of that construction; that the minimum age campaign suffered from a ‘hang-over-from-history’, namely, the history of Western industrialisation during the 19th and early 20th centuries; and, finally, that children had a subordinate and weak position in the minimum age campaign. The study was organised around five central themes: (1) the over-all theme of predominant conceptions of children and work; (2) the relationship between industrialised and colonised and developing nations; (3) the relationship between the child, the family and the state; (4) minimum age; and (5) the importance of school. The most important results of the study are that: (1) In view of the revolutionary changes during the 20th century the continuity in the minimum age campaign was remarkable. In 1919, the ‘child labour problem’ was an issue mainly for the Western industrialised word. By the end of the campaign, in 1973, the transformations in societies during the century had made ‘the child labour problem’ an issue mainly for the developing world and with different conditions and implications in many respects. The content and ‘grammar’ of the minimum age campaign was however never really challenged. (2) The study has verified that the minimum age campaign suffered from a ‘hang-over-from history’. The campaign built directly on the Western industrial experience during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Western dominance in the ILO, the legal transplants, and the roots in the labour movement all contributed to the ‘hang-over’. (3) The minimum age campaign was modelled on the ‘norm of the Western industrialised childhood’. The norms and realities of childhood in other parts of the world were neglected of considered as provisional and inferior phases in relation to the Western ‘norm’. In this way, there were two separate childhoods in the minimum age campaign: ‘the normal’ childhood conceived for Western conditions and ‘the other’ childhood conceived for the ‘imperfect’ conditions of poor children in the colonised and developing nations.(4) In the minimum age campaign the ‘best interests of the child’ was negotiable and was subordinated in case of conflict with other interests

The Negotiable Child : The ILO Child Labour Campaign 1919-1973

This dissertation examines the Conventions and Recommendations to regulate the minimum age for admission to employment between the years 1919 and 1973 – the ILO minimum age campaign. The adoption process has been studied in its chronological and historical context. The dissertation has three points of departure: that childhood is a historical construction and that the legal material is part of that construction; that the minimum age campaign suffered from a ‘hang-over-from-history’, namely, the history of Western industrialisation during the 19th and early 20th centuries; and, finally, that children had a subordinate and weak position in the minimum age campaign. The study was organised around five central themes: (1) the over-all theme of predominant conceptions of children and work; (2) the relationship between industrialised and colonised and developing nations; (3) the relationship between the child, the family and the state; (4) minimum age; and (5) the importance of school. The most important results of the study are that: (1) In view of the revolutionary changes during the 20th century the continuity in the minimum age campaign was remarkable. In 1919, the ‘child labour problem’ was an issue mainly for the Western industrialised word. By the end of the campaign, in 1973, the transformations in societies during the century had made ‘the child labour problem’ an issue mainly for the developing world and with different conditions and implications in many respects. The content and ‘grammar’ of the minimum age campaign was however never really challenged. (2) The study has verified that the minimum age campaign suffered from a ‘hang-over-from history’. The campaign built directly on the Western industrial experience during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Western dominance in the ILO, the legal transplants, and the roots in the labour movement all contributed to the ‘hang-over’. (3) The minimum age campaign was modelled on the ‘norm of the Western industrialised childhood’. The norms and realities of childhood in other parts of the world were neglected of considered as provisional and inferior phases in relation to the Western ‘norm’. In this way, there were two separate childhoods in the minimum age campaign: ‘the normal’ childhood conceived for Western conditions and ‘the other’ childhood conceived for the ‘imperfect’ conditions of poor children in the colonised and developing nations.(4) In the minimum age campaign the ‘best interests of the child’ was negotiable and was subordinated in case of conflict with other interests

Liberalism and Rights of Nature : A Comparative Legal and Historical Perspective

A growing number of jurisdictions have recently granted rights to nature. This article places the potential disruptions generated by this legal development in historical, comparative perspective. The questions that scholars are asking about rights of nature (RoN) are similar to many of those asked by historians and legal scholars about human rightsholders. These questions arise from some of the tensions within liberalism. Placing these tensions in comparative context offers a framework with which to interpret RoN developments. Doing so demonstrates, first, the capacity of the existing liberal order to incorporate challenges into already functioning structures and, second, that such efforts to manage the claims of new subjects of rights nonetheless can transform relations. In our conclusion, we argue that a comparative perspective may allay the tendency to exoticise rights of nature by examining the extent to which their development in sometime contentious and sometimes complementary relationship with democratic institutions is reflected in historical efforts to define and make meaningful the rights of human rightsholders

Impaired health-related quality of life in adolescents with allergy to staple foods

BACKGROUND: Cow's milk, hen's egg and wheat are staple foods in a typical western diet. Despite the ubiquity of these foods, the impact of staple food allergy on health-related quality of life (HRQL) amongst adolescents is incompletely understood. The aims of this study were to make use of the Swedish version of EuroPrevall's disease-specific food allergy quality of life questionnaire-teenager form (FAQLQ-TF) and to investigate the association between objectively-diagnosed staple food allergy and HRQL amongst adolescents. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 58 adolescents aged 13-17 years [n = 40 (69 %) boys] with objectively-diagnosed allergy to the staple foods cow's milk, hen's egg and/or wheat and living in Stockholm, Sweden were included. Adolescents completed the FAQLQ-TF, which has a corresponding scale of 1 = best HRQL, and 7 = worst HRQL. Overall HRQL and domain-specific HRQL were established. Adolescents also reported symptoms, adrenaline auto injector (AAI) prescription and presence of other food allergies. A history of anaphylaxis was defined among those reporting difficulty breathing, inability to stand/collapse, and/or loss of consciousness. Clinically different HRQL was set at a mean difference of ≥0.5. RESULTS: Overall mean HRQL was poorer than average [mean: 4.70/7.00 (95 % CI 4.30-5.01)]. The domain risk of accidental exposure was significantly associated with clinically better HRQL than the domain allergen avoidance and dietary restrictions (mean difference = 0.76; p < 0.001). Girls had clinically worse, but not statistically significantly different mean HRQL than boys (mean difference = 0.71; p < 0.07). HRQL tended to be worse amongst those with allergies to more than three foods or an AAI prescription. The number and types of symptoms, including a history of anaphylaxis were not associated with worse HRQL. CONCLUSIONS: As ascertained via a food allergy-specific questionnaire, adolescents with staple food allergy report poorer than average HRQL, specifically in relation to emerging independence and the need for support. Girls have clinically worse HRQL than boys. The number and type of previous symptoms and history of anaphylaxis were not associated with worse HRQL

Household costs associated with objectively diagnosed allergy to staple foods in children and adolescents

BACKGROUND: We previously reported that indirect and intangible costs burden households with a food allergic adult. We now extend our investigation to households with food allergic children and adolescents. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to estimate direct, indirect, and intangible costs of food allergy in households with a child and/or adolescent with objectively diagnosed allergy to staple foods (cow's milk, hen's egg, and/or wheat), and to compare these costs with age-and sex-matched controls. METHODS: Direct and indirect cost parent-reported data collected via the Food Allergy Socio-Economic Questionnaire of 84 children (0-12 years) and 60 adolescents (13-17 years) with objectively diagnosed allergy to staple foods ("cases") and age- and sex-matched controls (n = 94 children; n = 56 adolescents) were compared. Annual household costs were calculated. Total household costs included direct plus indirect costs. Intangible costs included parent-reported health of their child and/or adolescent, standard of living, and perceptions of well-being. RESULTS: Amongst cases, total household costs were higher by (sic)3961 for children and (sic)4792 for adolescents versus controls (P < .05), and were driven by direct (eg, medications) and indirect (eg, time with health care professionals) costs. For children only, a history of anaphylaxis was associated with higher direct costs than no anaphylaxis ((sic)13,016 vs (sic)10,044, P < .05). Intangible costs (eg, parent-reported health of a child and/or adolescent) were significantly impacted amongst cases versus controls (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Households with a child and/or adolescent with objectively diagnosed allergy to staple foods have higher total household costs than controls. Direct and indirect costs were significantly higher for cases versus controls amongst children only. Amongst both age groups, such allergy adversely impacted intangible costs