Source: UN News: Saturday, 14 June 2025 00:01 am
In many corners of the world, even today there are millions of children who get up with the first ray of the morning, but not to read and write in schools, but to go to work in fields, factories and markets. Progress has been recorded towards eradicating child labor, but despite this, for a large number of children in many countries it is still the truth of their daily life. International Labor Organization (Ilo) And United Nations Children’s Fund ,UnicefAccording to a new study of, 13.8 crore children were victims of child labor in 2024. Of these, 5.4 crore children work in risky conditions, which affects their health, well -being and development. Despite these worrying data, the study shows that since 2020, the number of child laborers has declined by 2.2 crores. Tweet url
Keeping in mind the large bounce in the number of child laborers during 2016 and 2020, it is a notable progress, but it is still a huge challenge. The international community set a target of eradicating child labor by 2025, and it is clear from the existing figures that it is currently away from reach. Although the number of child laborers was 24.6 crore in 2000, which has now increased to 13.8 crores. Gilbert Hongbo, Director General of UN Labor Agency, said that the conclusions of this report are hoped and showed that progress is possible, but we have to understand that there is still a long way to go. Many forms of bail labor take care of fields in a hot sun, a lot of children, a lot of children, or some families of labor If we share their hands in dhabas, they break the work in other mines or collect garbage. According to the report, 61 percent of the children are working in agricultural work, after which services, such as domestic work or markets, have a place. 13 percent of child laborers are working in mining and manufacturing sector. A large number of countries are suffering from the problem of bail labor, but its burden is not the same in every field. In every area, in Africa, there is about two-thirds of the total number of child laborers, ie 8.7 crore laborers. The rate of child labor has come down from 23.9 percent to 21.5 percent, but the number has not changed, and this progress has been weak due to population growth. In the Asia-Pacific region, this rate has come down from 5.6 percent to 3.1 percent, and the number of child laborers has also declined. It has now come down to 2.8 crores from 4.9 crores. Latin America and Caribbean areas have also progressed and the number of child laborers has been recorded by 11 percent. Economic challenges, a major reason behind the data, a suffering of economic difficulties is hidden. Many parents need to send their children to work, no option. It is difficult for families to live daily and in such a situation, the financial director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), without proper employment, it is difficult to live daily and in such a situation, it is difficult to live for families. However, he has warned that the direction of progress recorded so far from global funds for humanitarian purposes can reversed. If the budget shrinks for education and social security measures are weak, then a large number of families can be forced to send their children to work instead of schools. © Unicef/Arun Roisri
