World Day Against Child Labour, commemorated each year on June 12, is a day to reflect on the situation of children and families who must resort to child labor to make ends meet. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, much progress had been made in reducing child labor. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the number of children in child labor dropped from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016, a reduction of 38 percent. During the ongoing pandemic, this trend has reversed, leading to the first rise in child labor after 20 years of progress.
School closures and threatened livelihoods are among the impacts of COVID-19 that have threatened the well-being of children; this, in turn, has increased the numbers of children in situations of child labor, much of which is exploitative and hazardous. We all must take notice and focus our efforts to free children to learn and play as they should.
Through our programming and publicly-available resources, Verité is committed to the fight against child labor and promoting decent work for adults. Look for more resources from us on remedying child labor later this year and next.
Visit ILO.org to learn more about World Day Against Child Labour >
