UN: End foreseen for global child labor

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May 2006

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UN: End foreseen for global child labor
A future without child labor is within our grasp, according to a new report from the United Nation's International Labor Organization. In "The End of Child Labour: Within Reach," ILO researchers argue that child labor could be eradicated worldwide within 10 years. "Significant progress is being made in global efforts to end child labor, but much remains still to be done—progress should not lead to complacency. A strong and sustained global effort is still required," said ILO researchers.

According to the report, the number of child laborers globally fell by 11 percent over the last four years. Those engaged in hazardous work decreased by 26 percent. For the age group of 5-14 years the decline in hazardous work was even steeper—by 33 per cent. Despite those recorded declines, in 2004 there were 218 million children trapped in child labor of which 126 million were in hazardous work. Though the participation of girls in child labor and hazardous work is on a par with boys in the youngest age group (5-11 years), boys predominate very considerably at older ages in both categories.

The global picture that emerges is that child work is declining, and the more harmful the work and the more vulnerable the children involved, the faster the decline. Latin America and the Caribbean are making the greatest progress—the number of children in work has fallen by two-thirds over the last four years with just 5 per cent of children now engaged in work. Least progress has been made in sub-Saharan Africa where population growth, HIV/AIDS infection and child labor remain alarmingly high.

According to the report: "Political commitment through the adoption of coherent policies in the areas of poverty reduction, basic education, and human rights, is central to the progress made by countries, both past and present, in combating child labor. Economic growth alone will not eliminate child labor . . . Policy choices matter, and those which open gateways of opportunity for poor people, are central to efforts aimed at eliminating child labor."

Globally, the biggest problem stems from the agriculture industry, in which seven out of 10 child laborers work, the ILO said.

Child labor has fallen in Asia and the Pacific, but the region still has some 122 million workers between the ages of 5 and 14, the most of any region. And the ILO said the number in Asia could rise again because of December 2004 tsunami and the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

“Separated from their families, girls and boys became vulnerable to abduction and the more general risk of becoming entangled in child labor as part of the coping mechanism adopted by surviving families and communities,” the ILO said.

Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty, high population growth and the AIDS epidemic have hampered efforts to curb child labor, has the highest proportion of working children in the world, with nearly 50 million—one in every four children, the ILO said.

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