World Day against child labour

Dr. Dipak Nath, PhD
Contd from previous issue
For instance, as of 2017, 9 percent of children in Latin America do some form of labor. In East Asia (excluding China), the Middle East and Northern Africa it is 10 percent; in Eastern and Southern Africa it is 26 percent and in sub-Saharan Africa it is 28 percent. The ongoing COVID-19 health pandemic threatens to drive more children into child labour. According to UNICEF, children in the United States “are employed in agriculture, a high proportion of them from immigrant or ethnic-minority families.” There have also been a number of incidents of westerns companies exploiting child laborers in developing countries to save production costs. Children around the world are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that are not harmful to them. However, they are classified as child labourers when they are either too young to work, or are involved in hazardous activities that may compromise their physical, mental, social or educational development. In the least developed countries, slightly more than one in four children (ages 5 to 17) are engaged in labour that is considered detrimental to their health and development. Africa ranks highest among regions both in the percentage of children in child labour one-fifth and the absolute number of children in child labour 72 million. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in both these measures 7 percent of all children and 62 million in absolute terms are in child labour in this region.
The Africa and the Asia and the Pacific regions together account for almost nine out of every ten children in child labour worldwide. The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab States (1 million). In terms of incidence, 5 percent of children are in child labour in the Americas, 4 percent in Europe and Central Asia and 3 percent in the Arab States. While the percentage of children in child labour is highest in low-income countries, their numbers are actually greater in middle-income countries. 9 percent all children in lower-middle-income countries, and 7 percent of all children in upper-middle-income countries are in child labour. Statistics on the absolute number of children in child labour in each national income grouping indicate that 84 million children in child labour, accounting for 56 percent of all those in child labour, actually live in middle-income countries and an additional 2 million live in high-income countries.
The Government of India has taken steps to end the problem of child labor. Article 23 of the Indian Constitution prohibits the employment of children in hazardous industries. The ILO has been working for the abolition of child labour throughout its 100 year-history. Substantial progress has been achieved in recent years, largely because of intense advocacy and national mobilization backed by legislative and practical action. Between 2000 and 2016 alone, there was a 38 per cent decrease in child labour globally. The year 2021 is considered as International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
The writer is Dy. Director of Extension Education Central Agricultural University, Imphal, Manipur