Solutions: Can we end child slavery?

Stephen Chapman, a columnist for the Libertarian, has introduced one way we can all help to end child slavery: BUY MORE PRODUCTS! He suggests that if we were to buy more products produced by children, that would increase the demand and thus increase the wage of the child laborers. (Nike: Nike shoes and child labor in Pakistan. http://www.american.edu/TED/nike.htm) Does this not seem absurd? And not to mention that it still doesn't solve the issue that children are still being used for forced labor! Although they MIGHT be earning slightly more, they are still being exploited, treated inhumanely, and deprived of the right to an education.

Many organizations are working to eliminate child labor and finally implement laws pertaining to it. For instance, the US Government has promised that any company found outsourcing for child labor will immediately be put out of business. Perhaps the fact that Puma, Nike, and Adidas all do and still exist, gives an implication that these laws are simply words on a piece of paper.

Some organizations to end child slavery include:
World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry
Committee on Ethics and Fair Trade
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
The International Labor Organization (ILO)
Save the Children, Anti-Slavery International
The Fair Trade Foundation
The Clean Clothes Campaign
The international NGO Terre Des Hommes

(Daly, Matthew. "Organizations "On a Roll" To End Child Slavery." http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=69. accessed 10/21/2008)

Aside from developed organizations, there are some places within the exploited countries that have became havens for those who have escaped child labor and need assistance to get their lives back. One such place exists in Cambodia, where a woman named Somali has a shelter for girls who have escaped the treacherous grasp the brothels have had on their lives. She gives them a place to stay and provides them with a modest education. She is essentially helping these young girls get their lives back and hopefully initiate the steps to recovery.

From what i can tell, there is still a lot to be done if we have any hope to end child slavery. I feel as though many highly developed countries are still not doing enough and tend to deprive resources and aid if personal stakes are not held in that particular country. Nowadays, everything evolves around money and even the US relies on outsourcing in order to keep our economy alive. What i want to see happen is change. I want to see our population, and populations of other countries, alter their views of "we are all out for ourselves" and see the global crises that will soon devour the world as we know it. We are all here to help one another, and who says we cannot help if we don't get anything back in return? It is time our citizens finally had a say in the occurrences of political actions. It's time we stand up and fight for a cause.