Today is World Day Against Child Labour. It is observed on June 12th, with the intention to serve as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labour.
Emphasizing the link between social justice and child labour, the slogan for the World Day in 2023 is ‘Social Justice for All. End Child Labour!’.
The United Nations said that joint experience in tackling child labour over the course of the last three decades has demonstrated that child labour can be eliminated, if the root causes are addressed.
More than ever, it is urgent for everyone to contribute to bringing solutions to people’s daily problems, and child labour is, possibly ,the most visible of these problems.
UN considers the 2023 World Day Against Child Labour to be a moment for all who are committed to ending child labour to demonstrate that change can be achieved when will and determination come together and provide a momentum for efforts to be accelerated in a situation of great urgency.
This year’s World Day Against Child Labour, aims to reinvigorate international action to achieve social justice, particularly under the envisaged Global Coalition for Social Justice, with child labour elimination as one of its important elements,
universal ratification of the International Labour Organization Convention, ILO No. 138 on Minimum Age, which, together with the universal ratification of ILO Convention No. 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour achieved in 2020, would provide all children with legal protection against all forms of child labour.
Since 2000, for nearly two decades, there has been steady progress in reducing child labour, but over the past few years, conflicts, crises and the COVID-19 pandemic, have plunged more families into poverty , and forced millions more children into child labour.
Economic growth has not been sufficient, nor inclusive enough, to relieve the pressure that too many families and communities feel and that makes them resort to child labour.
Today, 160 million children are still engaged in child labour with Africa ranking highest among regions both in the percentage of children in child labour which is one-fifth and the absolute number of children in child labour, which is 72 million. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest . The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab States (1 million).
