Repressive, reformist, radical? Representing and responding to child labour in artisanal and small-scale mining

Fierce debates rage over ‘what to do’ about child labour in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Long decried as a site of exploitation, ASM is demonised by much of the international child protection architecture as an archaic relic in need of eradication. By contrast, working children’s movements, civil society advocates, and sympathetic academics all argue that the picture is more complex, that child work, including in ASM, can bring many benefits, and thus that regulation is better than repression. To this more progressive, yet still reformist, strand of argument has recently been added a more radical alternative, calling for massive redistribution to address ‘the root causes of the root causes’. This paper reviews the field of competing representations of and proposed responses to child labour in ASM. It argues that although the repressive strand remains hegemonic, the reformist is gaining ground, while the radical is pointing in increasingly progressive political directions. The paper marks, in 2025, not only the point at which all child work in ASM should have been eradicated, according to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, but also the 20th anniversary of the International Labour Organisation’s seminal take on the issue, A Load Too Heavy.