COVID-19: Protect Children from Child Labour, now more than ever!

World Day Against Child Labour - 12 June 2020

World Day Against Child Labour 2020 will focus on the impact of crisis on child labour. The COVID-19 health pandemic and the resulting economic and labour market shock are having a huge impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, children are often the first to suffer. The crisis can push millions of vulnerable children into child labour. Already, there are an estimated 152 million children in child labour, 72 million of which are in hazardous work. These children are now at even greater risk of facing circumstances that are even more difficult and working longer hours.
 
This year, the World Day will be conducted as a virtual campaign and is being organized jointly with the Global March Against Child Labour and the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture (IPCCLA).
 
A joint ILO-UNICEF paper on the impact of COVID-19 on child labour, released on 12 June, will looks at some of the main channels through which the pandemic is likely to affect progress towards the eradication of child labour.
 

Statements

  1. Joint message from the ILO and UNICEF to mark the World Day Against Child Labour

    The 2020 World Day Against Child Labour focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on Child Labour, while looking forward to the International Year on the Elimination of Child Labour, 2021. On the occasion of the World Day, a joint ILO-UNICEF paper entitled “COVID-19 and child labour: A time of crisis, a time to act” has been released. The paper looks at some of the main ways through which the pandemic is likely to affect progress towards the eradication of child labour.

  2. FAO Director-General message on World Day Against Child Labour

  3. International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture (IPCCLA)

    The members of the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture (IPCCLA), namely FAO, ILO, IFAD, IUF, IFPRI has released a joint statement on the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour 2020, focusing on the Impact of COVID-19 on child labour in agriculture. The statement reflects on the potential impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the prevalence of child labour in agriculture and the potentially lasting deleterious effects on child growth and development, urging for a call for immediate nationally and internationally coordinated responses.

ILO labour standards on child labour

Minimum age for admission to employment
  1. ILO Convention No. 138
    Ratifications
  2. Recommendation No. 146
Worst forms of child labour
  1. ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour
    Ratifications
  2. Recommandation No. 190