아동 근로 법제의 문제점 및 개선방안 연구

This paper focuses on the improvement of Korean laws and policies on children working in the modern society where the universal human rights mechanism has a great influence on domestic legal issues. From the perspective of the compliance with the international human rights norms which has been ratified or accepted by Korea and, therefore, are legally binding in Korea, this paper criticizes several problems of the Korean legislation on children working and suggests four improvements as below. First, the child, in the field of children working, should be legally defined as a person who is under the age of 19. The terms which mean a child and their ages vary at the laws regarding children working without any specific purpose. This situation provokes the confusion in light of the scope of protection for working children and there are legal vacancy where children’s rights are not protected in some cases. Second, the paper suggests the minimum age system and the statutory working time system that can reflect the characteristics of children who are minors as well as rights holders. In order to ensure children’s right to work, the current 2-stage minimum age system should be divided into 3 stages. The standards on working hours and night labor for working children need to be set up in accordance with the nature of the work and the obstacles of schooling in terms of special protection for children. Third, severe forms of child labour should be clearly banned and the prohibited hazardous work should be provided in detail. The universal human rights rules require the eradication of severe forms of child labour. However, the punishment on forced labour and provisions on hazardous work are not sufficient under the Korean legal system. Fourth, in order to effectively implement the legal protections for children working, it is suggested to raise public awareness, strengthen the monitoring system, and take the regulatory measures against the violation.