The theme of this year’s World Day Against Child Labor is “Act Now: End Child Labor.”
The 2021 World Day Against Child Labor is the culmination of a “Week of Action” that began on June 10. “Child labour perpetuates intergenerational poverty, jeopardises national economies, and jeopardises the rights provided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” the ILO stated (International Labour Organization).
The International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations institution, first recognised this particular day in 2002. The goal of the day is to raise awareness about the illegal practise of child labour, which still exists and about the disease, so that it can be eradicated totally around the world.
According to the ILO, child labour is a result of a variety of social and economic causes, including poverty, social norms that condone it, a lack of adequate job possibilities for adults and adolescents, migration, and emergencies. As a result, there are societal inequalities and discrimination.
Child labour can be found in a variety of industries, from the manufacture of firecrackers in Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi city to the bangle-making sector or working at roadside cafes.
According to the 2011 census, 259.64 million children aged 5 to 14 years old lived in India, with 10.1 million of them working as child labourers, according to a Hindustan Times report. The number of children aged five to eleven who work as children has increased dramatically, accounting for more than half of the entire global figure. According to the ILO report, the number of children aged five to seventeen who are exposed to hazardous labour has increased by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016.
According to a research released ahead of World Day Against Child Labor as a result of COVID-19’s effects the number of children in child labour has climbed to 160 million worldwide, an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years.
According to a research released by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF on global trends and estimates, efforts to abolish child labour has paused, reversing a downward trend that saw the number of children employed fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016.
Experts say that any effective action against child labour must acknowledge and address the wide variety of physical and emotional harm that children suffer as a result of poverty, estrangement, and migration.
Let’s end the enslavement and spread smiles across their faces.
