CHILD LABOUR – GLOBAL STATISTICS
· 246 million children are child laborers.
· There are 2.5 million working children in the developed countries, and another 2.5 million in Eastern European countries.
· The largest number – 127 million – of working children age 14 and under are in the Asia-Pacific region.
· The highest proportion of working children is in Sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of children age 14 and under (48 million children) are in the labour force.
· 73 million working children are less than 10 years old.
· Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents.
CHILD LABOUR – THE WORK
· 70% are in agriculture, commercial hunting and fishing or forestry;
· 8% are in manufacturing. (Factories, making carpets, clothes, glass, matches, fireworks, Brick quarries, Mines etc.)
· 8% are in wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels. Street Vending and Garbage dumps, collecting items to sell.
· 7% are in community, social and personal service, such as domestic work. (It is estimated that 20-60% of all working children are girls in domestic service. Because these girls work out of sight within private households they are extremely vulnerable to physical, mental and sexual abuse)
· 8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, Soldiers, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities.
· 1.2 million of these children have been trafficked.
CHILD LABOUR – HOW TO COMBAT?
· Reduce poverty so there is less need for children to work.
· Increase adults' wages so there is less need for children to work. Adults need a living wage.
· Improve working conditions so that children's health and safety are ensured.
· Shorten children's working hours so they can attend school.
· Ban hazardous and exploitative work such as bonded labour, sex work, military conscription, mining and all work that exposes children to toxic substances or extreme temperatures.
· Make education more attractive and relevant to children's needs.
