Today – 12 June 2023 – marks World Day Against Child Labour.
Today, we still count 160 million children working worldwide. 70 percent of all child labour is in agriculture. That’s 112 million children working in agriculture on plantations and small farms where their working tools are machetes instead of pencils. Child labour prevents many children from attending school or hinders their learning if they do attend Child labour perpetuates the vicious circle that traps families: children work, often remain uneducated and poor, and then their children need to work in order to survive. Furthermore, children working undermines negotiations for fair wages for adults.
Change is possible if the root causes of child labour are addressed: political will should be focused on curbing poverty, ensuring a living income, social security, freedom of association, and collective bargaining for all.
IUF and EFFAT along with their affiliated trade unions, reiterate their demands to governments and multinationals to take action and bring change to millions of children’s personal stories.
- Introduce mandatory human rights due diligence legislation
- Ensure traceability of all goods in the agricultural supply chains so that no child labour can be used
- Pay a fair price for agricultural crops to ensure that small holders receive a living income and waged workers are paid a living wage.
- Establish laws on child labour in agriculture in compliance with ILO C138 and C182 without exemptions on minimum age and enforce these laws through government labour inspection.
- Remove the obstacles to workers organizing in agriculture
Every step taken towards eradicating child labour will give every child the right tools to thrive.
End child labour.
#WDACL23
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