Save the children of poverty

Moreover, since the State is responsible for protecting children's rights, it, along with private sector actors, civil society and citizens, should follow the UNCRC principle of "Best Interest of the Child" and "Do No Harm". Society as whole must always strive to maximize a child's best interest, while minimizing the threats it could face. This not only means that we need to protect the child from being exposed to harm, but ensure that they are able to get a decent education and eat a healthy diet. As the country puts in place the infrastructure to make this happen, the best interest of an individual child may not always be the most obvious one: we need to look at why the option of employment at such a young age was preferable to staying at home in education, and change that calculus. So realizing a child's best interest must be carefully planned and executed to protect it from being exposed to harm.

The government, therefore, should not be criticized for rescuing the Liangshan girl - and many other child laborers - from factories. But a responsible intervention must be informed by professional analysis and investigation, which should guide the provision of essential services such as emergency shelter, medical care, legal support, and family tracing and assessment for rescued children.

To eradicate child labor, the intervention should not stop at rescuing children from factories. The government, as well as companies employing child laborers, should take financial safeguard measures to guarantee the survival and development of the rescued children after they have lost their source of livelihood. For instance, companies could consider hiring a child laborer's parent, or providing a stipend or income-generating micro-finance scheme to the child laborer's family. And a follow-up and monitoring mechanism should be established to ensure that children get the opportunity to receive education and professional training to prevent them from slipping into child labor once more.

The government should also adopt a multifaceted approach to address the root causes of child labor. It should, for instance, continue to strengthen the overall social security and protection systems to better cover vulnerable groups. Besides, it should intensify economic and social development in impoverished areas such as Liangshan by investing (or giving incentives to companies to invest) in those areas, and developing a wider range of educational and vocational options for children to prevent them from falling into the trap of child labor. More importantly, the government should educate parents and children about the dangers of child labor. This is an urgent task - and it needs the support of many different actors.

As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. The government alone cannot save children from the plight of child labor. Social organizations should also play an important role in eradicating child labor.

The author is child protection and child rights governance advisor, Save the Children in China.