Children's rights

Child labor rises globally for the first time in decades

Thomson Reuters Foundation

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Child labor rises globally for the first time in decades

CHILDREN. Children play, as a boy learns how to plough the land with the two oxen, in Chugur, Peru June 4, 2021.

Alessandro Cinque/Reuters

One in 10 children work worldwide

Child labor has risen for the first time in 20 years, the United Nations said on Thursday, June 10, with 1 in 10 children in work worldwide and millions more at risk due to COVID-19.

The number of child laborers has increased to 160 million from 152 million in 2016, with the greatest rise in Africa due to population growth, crises, and poverty, said the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“We are losing ground in the fight against child labor, and the last year has not made that fight any easier,” UNICEF’s executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement, ahead of the World Day Against Child Labor on June 12.

“Now, well into a second year of global lockdowns, school closures, economic disruptions, and shrinking national budgets, families are forced to make heartbreaking choices.”

Must Read

The UN has made 2021 the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor, saying urgent action is needed to meet a goal of ending the practice by 2025.

But major gains made since 2000 – when 246 million children were in work – are being reversed and the number could climb back to 206 million by the end of 2022 if governments introduce austerity measures or fail to protect the vulnerable, it said.

The UN said that child laborers may now be working longer hours or under worse conditions due to pandemic-related economic shocks and school closures, and many more may be forced into the worst forms of child labor.

The report highlighted an increase in the number of children aged 5 to 11 years in child labor, who now account for just over half of the total global figure, as well as a rise in those in hazardous work that is likely to harm their health or safety.

“This is what we have been able to measure prior to the pandemic,” Claudia Cappa, one of the report’s authors and senior adviser at UNICEF, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video call from Geneva.

Must Read

How can the world boost efforts to end child labor in 2021?

“If we look at the impact of COVID-19, this gives us additional reasons for concern.”

Cappa said that the number of child laborers could fall by 15 million with mitigation measures, such as universal child grants, and if free and good quality schooling up until the minimum age for employment was ensured.

Increased investment in rural development and decent work in agriculture, a sector that accounts for 70% of child labor, are also key, according to ILO’s director-general Guy Ryder.

“The new estimates are a wake-up call. We cannot stand by while a new generation of children is put at risk,” Ryder said.

“We are at a pivotal moment and much depends on how we respond. This is a time for renewed commitment and energy, to turn the corner and break the cycle of poverty and child labor.” – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!