The United Nations (UN)’s World Day Against Child Labour is observed annually on June 12th around the world to raise awareness about the need to focus attention on child labour and the action and efforts required to end child labour.
The goal of observing the day is to encourage the growing anti-child labour movement.
In 2024, the World Day Against Child Labour will be observed for the 22nd time.
Child Labour
- Child labor is work that harms or endangers a child in violation of international law and national regulations.
- All “unconditional” worst kinds of child labor, globally defined as slavery, trafficking, forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, prostitution and pornography, and illegal activities.
- Labour performed by minors under the minimum legal age for that type of employment, as defined by national legislation and in conformity with accepted international standards.
- “Hazardous work” refers to work that endangers a child’s bodily, mental, or moral well-being.
- Not all work done by children should be classified as child labor that should be eliminated; in fact, the participation of children or adolescents in work that does not harm their health or personal development or interfere with their education is generally regarded as positive.
Theme
The theme of World Day Against Child Labour 2024 is “Let’s act on our commitments: End Child Labour!”
History
- The International employment Organization (ILO), a UN agency, established World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to draw attention to the global scope of child employment and the actions and efforts required to eliminate it.
- The day was established to emphasize the plight of children engaged in child labor and what may be done to assist them.
- One of the primary goals of the International Labour Organization, which was established in 1919, was the abolition of child labor. The first World Day Against Child Labour was commemorated on June 12, 2002.
Call for Action
- On June 12, 2023, World Day against Child Labour calls for renewed international efforts to achieve social justice, including the eradication of child labor as a key component of the Global Coalition for Social Justice.
- Universal ratification of ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age, which, along with universal ratification of ILO Convention No. 182 on Worst types of Child Labour, is expected in 2020, would provide all children with legal protection against all types of child labor.
- The Durban Call to Action has been effectively implemented.
- The Durban Call to Action is a document signed by children that highlights the need for urgent action to abolish child labor. It was approved by delegates during the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour on May 20, 2022 in Durban, South Africa.