Welcome to the United Nations
United Nations officials today marked the World Day Against Child Labour by highlighting the crucial role of social protection in keeping boys and girls out of a heinous practice that robs them of their childhood and threatens their prospects for a better future.
The UN International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 168 million children worldwide – one in ten – are involved in child labour, with 85 million of them engaged in hazardous work.
In his statement for the World Day, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder noted that family poverty and income shocks are often catalysts of child labour.
“It is time to break this cycle and ensure that families living in poverty have adequate incomes, income security and health care,” he said, adding that these social protection measures can help households weather shocks and keep their children in school and out of child labour.
“Underinvestment in children jeopardizes their rights, not least their right to freedom from child labour, and it is a stranglehold on the prospects of a better future for themselves and their countries,” Mr. Ryder stated.
“There is no secret as to what needs to be done: social protection along with universal compulsory, formal, quality education at least up to the minimum age for work, decent work for adults and youth of working age, effective law and strong social dialogue together provide the right response to child labour.”
For more information, please click here.
SOURCE & COPYRIGHT: © United Nations