Recently, the U.S. media reported that the number of immigrant children entering the United States without parental supervision has reached record levels. Many of them would end up taking jobs that violate child labor laws. The news caused public shock.

According to a CGTN poll of global internet users, 91.2 percent of respondents feel strongly pessimistic about the current situation of child safety and rights protection in the U.S., and 90.8 percent of respondents are disappointed with the U.S. government's performance in protecting children's rights. Besides, 92.6 percent respondents agree that the U.S. showed a clear disregard for children's safety; while 91.7 percent of respondents believe that the problem of abusing child labor has exposed the huge flaw of current legal system in the country. 

Recent data released by the U.S. Department of Labor shows that the number of child laborers illegally employed by companies across the country has increased by 69 percent since 2018. During the last fiscal year alone, the Department of Labor found that there are 835 companies employing over 3,800 children, which has violates labor laws. These child laborers are working in a variety of industries across the U.S., including on construction sites, in high-risk cleaning jobs in slaughterhouses or in the manufacture of automotive parts.

The United States, which has always been a self-proclaimed "beacon of human rights," has still not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and has been repeatedly criticized by the International Labor Organization for the issue of child labor. The poll found that 81.2 percent of respondents believe the U.S. approach to children's rights is a sharp irony to its commitment to "human rights first."

The survey was published on CGTN's English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms, with 22,935 users voting in 24 hours and over 1.53 million cumulative views.

(Cover: The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., U.S. /CFP)