Child labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. Around the world and in the U. The International Labor Organization estimates that million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative. Underage children work at all sorts of jobs around the world, usually because they and their families are extremely poor.
Large numbers of children work in commercial agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, and domestic service. Some children work in illicit activities like the drug trade and prostitution or other traumatic activities such as serving as soldiers. Children have been found harvesting:. Roughly million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of , with 9 million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID This accounts for nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide.
Almost half of them are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health and moral development. Children may be driven into work for various reasons. Most often, child labour occurs when families face financial challenges or uncertainty — whether due to poverty, sudden illness of a caregiver, or job loss of a primary wage earner. The consequences are staggering. Child labour can result in extreme bodily and mental harm, and even death.
It can lead to slavery and sexual or economic exploitation. And in nearly every case, it cuts children off from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights and threatening their futures. Migrant and refugee children — many of whom have been uprooted by conflict, disaster or poverty — also risk being forced into work and even trafficked, especially if they are migrating alone or taking irregular routes with their families.
It is hardly surprising therefore that they see no point in attending school; traditional views prevail that girls are better prepared for adult life by sending them to work than by investing in their education; as a result of the above factors, vast numbers of children enter early into the unskilled labour market.
They are frequently illiterate and remain so throughout their lives, and they lack the basic educational grounding which would enable them to acquire skills and to improve their prospects for a decent adult working life.
Families themselves are a major factor. Large numbers of children are unpaid workers in family enterprises farms, informal sector workshops, etc. Many national laws and regulations, as well as international standards like Convention No.
However, even in family enterprises, children can be exposed to serious risks to their health and safety. According to the experts, the main reasons for the emergence of child labour in bigger cities are unhealthy family life and economic deprivation.
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