As the pandemic pushes more children into harmful work, we must stand by working children and listen to them
Every year on June 12th, we mark World Day Against Child Labour, to raise awareness and drive action towards ending child labour. 2021 is especially significant for being declared the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
Around the world, 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – are in work. That’s approximately 1 in 10 of all children globally, and almost half of them are working in hazardous conditions. Not all work performed by children is harmful, but when it is, it impacts all dimensions of a child’s development; mentally, physically, socially and morally. In the most extreme cases, the worst forms of child labour include situations where children are enslaved, sexually exploited, and/or (forcibly) recruited into armed groups. When a child is involved in harmful work it can also interfere with their education, which can have a devastating impact on their future.
Child labour is not limited to low-income countries (half of all children affected by child labour live in middle-income countries) but the problem is most prevalent in countries experiencing conflict and disaster. When a crisis hits, the structures and safety nets that usually protect and support children to grow and develop are broken. In any time of hardship, children and their communities look for coping strategies to ensure that not only can they survive, but also thrive, and have a decent quality of life. Work is one of the avenues to achieve this goal. Our world is a place of inequality and poverty, where all too often children have to work because their parents don’t earn sufficient income to provide for their family, or they cannot find any work, or because the national education and social protection systems aren’t strong enough to provide even the basic necessities children are entitled to.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a major global crisis that is generating severe economic and social adversities. Millions more children are at risk of extreme poverty and, consequently, of being pushed into harmful work. Even before the pandemic, we were still a long way off from achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 – eliminating child labour in all its forms by 2025, and eradicating forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking by 2030. Now, the pandemic threatens to reverse any progress that has been made to address the child labour crisis.
At Save the Children, we’re seeing the devastating impacts COVID-19 is having on the world’s most vulnerable children. We know that we must act now to protect a generation, and so we are working to ensure that all children can return to school safely, no matter where they are. We are also strengthening the social protection systems that support children and their communities, and addressing some of the root causes that push children into harmful work. But we must go faster and farther to protect children and build a world free from child exploitation.
That’s why Save the Children is part of a global partnership advocating to intensify efforts across the world to keep children safe, including getting them back to school and learning. To contribute to ending child labour in all its forms by 2025, we will focus on addressing the roots causes of the exploitation of children and working with businesses so that they can also take responsibility for upholding children’s rights. You can read our full pledge here.
Most importantly we are listening to children. Past efforts to end child labour that have not been informed by children’s experiences and perspectives have proven ineffective or even harmful, such as blanket “bans against child labour”. An effective response must be centered on children’s best interests, respectful of their dignity and pride, and aware of the risks associated with stigmatizing working children.
Every child has the right to live in dignity and thrive. It is essential that we all do our part to protect children everywhere from being exploited and harmed. This requires governments to make strong and significant investments in children, and it requires citizens to hold their governments accountable. The International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour provides an opportunity to mobilize governments, civil society, and the private sector to take action, listen to, and partner with children, to advance their rights.
By Olivia Lecoufle, Child Rights and Protection Advisor