World Day against Child Labour: June 12
Dr. Parveen Kumar*
Today is World day against Child Labour, an issue that has attracted global attention because of its potential in depriving the physical and mental development of children. Every year 12th June is dedicated to cause of ‘Children of a Lesser God’. The phrase ‘Children of a Lesser God’ is a metaphor for individuals, groups, or cultures treated as inferior, marginalized, or less favored by society. It implies that they are unfairly relegated to the sidelines or viewed as flawed, as though they were created by a secondary, less powerful deity. The sentiment dates back to Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s 1888 poem Idylls of the King. In it, a character questions whether the world is imperfect because it was created by a ‘lesser god’ who lacked the power to shape it perfectly.
What constitutes Child Labour? The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child labour as, ‘work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development’. According to ILO’s data, hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are involved in work that deprives them of receiving an adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating this way their rights. Of these children, more than half are exposed to the worst forms of child labour. These worst forms of child labour include work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict. Child labour interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely, or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work. In its most extreme forms, child labor involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities often at a very early age. Not all work done by children is child labor. Slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labour, children in armed conflict, and children working in illegal activities are considered to be some of the worst forms of child labour. Hazardous work is also one of the worst forms of child labour.
Activities that contribute to a child’s positive development and provide skills and experience for them to become productive members of society are not child labor. In the least developed countries, slightly more than one in four children (age 5 to 17) is engaged in labour that is considered detrimental to their health and development. Poverty is one of the main reasons for child labour because of which children are forced to left their school and opt for menial jobs to support their parents for their livelihood. Moreover, some are forced into child labour by organized crime rackets.
Prevalence of child labour: Despite progress, 138 million children remain in child labour worldwide, including nearly 54 million in hazardous work. Prevalence of child labour has been different in different regions of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the heaviest burden, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all children in child labour 87 million. While prevalence fell from 24 to 22 per cent, the total number has remained stagnant against the backdrop of population growth, ongoing and emerging conflicts, extreme poverty, and stretched social protection systems. Asia and the Pacific achieved the most significant reduction in prevalence since 2020, with the child labour rate dropping from 6 per cent to 3 per cent (from 49 million to 28 million children). Although the prevalence of children in child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean stayed the same over the past four years, the total number of children affected dropped from 8 million to about 7 million, the report notes. Since 2000, child labour has almost halved, from 246 million to 138 million, yet current rates remain too slow, and the world has fallen short of reaching the 2025 global elimination target. To end it within the next five years, current rates of progress would need to be 11 times faster. The child labour problem is also prevalent in India. As per Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group (5-14) years was 259.6 million. Of these, 10.1 million (3.9% of total child population) were working, either as ‘main worker’ or as ‘marginal worker’. In addition, more than 42.7 million children in India were out of school.
Five states in India are biggest child labour employers. These five states are Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttarpradesh. Over half of India’s total child labour population works here. Uttarpradesh is the hub of child labour having 20 per cent of the country’s child labourers.
History & Theme of World Day against Child Labour: The World Day Against Child Labour is an International Labour Organization (ILO) sanctioned holiday first launched in 2002 aiming to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labour. It was spurred by ratifications of ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for employment and ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour. This year the campaign against child labour hovers around ‘Red card to child labour: Fair play for children, decent work for adults’. It calls for reinforced action on the policies that prevent child labour and withdraw children from it and at the same time ensuring quality education, universal social protection, decent work and adequate livelihoods for adults, stronger laws and enforcement, better data and monitoring systems and responsible action in agriculture and supply chains.
Child labour in Agri-food systems: Child labour in griculture is a survival strategy for millions of smallholder farmers who cannot afford to hire labour from outside for various farm operations. Agriculture accounts for the largest share of global child labour, with over 112 million children about 70% of all child labourers working in farming, fishing, forestry, and livestock. Most are unpaid family workers on small farms. While age-appropriate, light tasks can safely transfer agricultural skills, much of this work exposes children to extreme hazards. Agriculture is one of the three most dangerous sectors. Children face extreme physical risks, including operating heavy machinery, exposure to toxic pesticides, and injuries from livestock. Working long hours deprives children of their fundamental right to education, directly stunting future employability and perpetuating generational poverty. In agri-food systems, particularly in rural areas, child labour is often a survival strategy for families as they rely on unpaid workers within the household. This reflects the deep links between rural poverty, limited access to education, weak social protection, food insecurity, and the growing pressures of climate change. Child labour in agriculture cannot be addressed in isolation. It requires coordinated, area-based approaches that tackle underlying drivers in partnership with a range of actors, each bringing complementary expertise.
At the global level, various initiatives have been started to ensure that children does not have to work in the fields at the cost of their childhood. The International Labour Organization (ILO) works to eliminate hazardous work and expand social protections for vulnerable rural families. The Convention No. 182 (C182) of ILO concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention became effective from Nov. 19, 2000. Another very important convention, the Convention No. 138 (C138) that came into force on June 19, 1976 was developed to regulate child labour by setting a minimum age for admission to employment that the signatories are to respect. This convention aims to give children the right to live their childhoods. A child who is not working has a better chance of developing properly, both physically and mentally and thus becoming a healthy adult. C138 legally binds all the member states which have ratified it. Of the 183 member ILO states 156 have ratified it and are to respect it. India is the largest reservoir of child labour. The Food and Agriculture Organization targets the root causes of rural poverty and promotes sustainable agri-food systems. FAO’s work to eliminate child labour is grounded in its Framework on Ending Child Labour in Agriculture and reflects its commitment to support agri-food system actors in achieving SDG target 8.7 on ending all forms of child labour.
There is an urgent need to reverse child labour as a survival strategy in agri-food systems all across the world. It can be done by helping vulnerable smallholder farming families improve their livelihoods by offering conditional cash transfers, training, and support for income diversification through encouraging savings and easy access to institutional credit and at the same time by promoting education and safer agricultural practices through Farmer Field Schools, campaigns and community led initiatives.
*The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at [email protected]
