It might be an unusually American take, but I do think child labor is a bit easier to justify when the child is compensated with a tremendous amount of money. (When compared to the sweatshops you mentioned).
From my understanding, the "special laws" put hard caps on the amount of hours that a child can work in a week, and establishes a bunch of other protections like making sure they get adequate schooling, etc.
In a film with a child in a lead role, the entire movie production schedule often revolves around this hard hours limit.
Perhaps a larger tragedy is children working in family businesses. Poor, legal immigrant families often put their children to work at the family restaurant, and this is legal for any number of hours.
From my understanding, the "special laws" put hard caps on the amount of hours that a child can work in a week, and establishes a bunch of other protections like making sure they get adequate schooling, etc.
In a film with a child in a lead role, the entire movie production schedule often revolves around this hard hours limit.
Perhaps a larger tragedy is children working in family businesses. Poor, legal immigrant families often put their children to work at the family restaurant, and this is legal for any number of hours.