At the start of the twenty-first century, child labour has once again become a significant social problem motivating trade unions, NGOs and social movement activists to demand improved living conditions for children across the world. Campaigning has become more visible over the last twenty years. Trade unions have argued for various ‘social clauses’ to be included in trade agreements to guarantee various worker rights and a ‘zero tolerance’ of child labour. NGOs have increasingly argued for a child's right to work in combination with improved educational options for young people in developing economies. More recently child labour control has become a central demand of the American student ‘No Sweats’ campaign, described as part of the most significant social protests to rock America since the anti-war movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s (‘No Sweat?’, Panorama, BBC Television, 15 October 2000).

However, there is little agreement among this disparate group of organisations and individuals over what precise measures should be taken to prevent children from working. For trade unions it is prevention by passing restricting legislation and enacting social clauses, but for NGOs this is to impose a ‘Western’ conception of childhood onto ‘Third World’ children.