Summary
The documentary by Shraysi Tandon is an eye-opening film that exposes the use of child trafficking and child labor in the supply chain of the world's largest corporations. Throughout the film, children are seen to work continuously over long periods of time (IMDB, 2018). Kailash Satyarthi, the founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, contrasts the situation of these children to that of animals and explains that animals are better off as they have the freedom to roam around (IMDB, 2018). These children have no dreams, as all they know is forced labor and have not had the chance to go to school. Children as young as five years old are introduced to the labor industry, sold like animals to the highest bidder who ends up abusing them daily. Children have become pawns to the international process that is globalization and virtual no country or industry is immune to child labor (IMDB, 2018).
Major multinational corporations have a part of their supply chain fueled with child laborers. These firms claim to not know if this is true and say that whenever they learn of such incidences, they report to the authorities (IMDB, 2018). However, they have created systems that remove them from the liability of having to deal with whatever happens on the farm. They have no strict enforcement laws that render their supply chains free from child labour. Evidently, there exists a modern slavery system that is cruel to the children and is silently supported by the world's largest conglomerates (IMDB, 2018). The producers of the film look into why these stakeholders are not putting an end to the deadly unlawful practice.
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Analysis
The documentary, "Invisible hands" is an interesting film that highlights the problems that plague the global supply chains. Globalization is known as the process through which firms acquire international influence through working on a global scale (Nogler, & Pertile, 2016). Most organizations are aiming to achieve globalization as this allows them to gain a bigger market share and increase their competitive advantage. However, globalization can also have negative effects on different members of society. With globalization comes capitalism where private ownership thrives. These private owners then indulge in global capitalism, where production occurs on the global scale and labor is sourced around the world (Nogler, & Pertile, 2016). These factors then make it possible for the multinationals to take their production overseas in developing countries. They are motivated to do this because they are guaranteed cheap labor as compared to the fees they pay to workers in their countries of origin. Unfortunately, they do not create strict measures that deter their partners from soliciting cheap labor that sometimes comes from children.
As such, children find themselves pawns in this global supply chain, as evidenced in the documentary, where they are trafficked for cheap labor to maximize the profits of the partners. In other situations, the cheap labor sought after by these firms leads to families getting the earnings and employment opportunities which are scarce in those regions (Castillo & Salem, 2016). This then becomes a motivating factor for child labor as families allow their children to work to increase the family's income. In other circumstances, families are paid low wages that families have no option but to send their children to work, thus facilitating child labor. The large multinationals that outsource cheap labor also create situations where they shield themselves from the cases of child labor (Castillo & Salem, 2016). Global capitalism allows them to outsource labor and not suffer the consequences related to their effects. Globalization, therefore, provides suitable conditions for the propagation of child labor in areas of poverty where children and their families are exploited.
References
Castillo, L. L., & Salem, D. S. (2016). Does globalization contribute to decreasing child labor rates?. Revista de economía mundial, (44), 127-151.
IMDB. (2018). Invisible Hands. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6980550/?ref_=vp_back
Nogler, L., & Pertile, M. (2016). Child labour in a globalized world: a legal analysis of ILO action. Routledge.
