World Day Against Child Labour
ILO to kick off the ILO Virtual Race to End Child Labour
To commemorate the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour and the World Day against Child Labour 2021, the ILO organizes a virtual race as a social movement to end child labour and promote education for all Indonesian children.
JAKARTA (Joint Press Release) – The International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with Cause Indonesia, a virtual race platform with a nationwide coverage, is kicking off the virtual race titled “End Child Labour: Virtual Race 2021”on 12th of June. The event marks the commemoration of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour 2021 and the World Day against Child Labour, which falls on 12th of June.
The event also marks the commencement of the End Child Labour Virtual Race under the theme: Act Now, End Child Labour. The kick-off event will be officially opened by the Ministry of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, ILO Country Director for Indonesia, Michiko Miyamoto and will be attended by ILO Regional Senior Specialist on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Bharati Pflug, as well as relevant ministries, civil society organizations, representatives of industrial associations and workers organizations.
“There is no place for child labour in society,” said ILO Country Director for Indonesia, Michiko Miyamoto. “It robs children of their future and keeps families in poverty. The ILO has been working for the abolition of child labour throughout its 100 year-history and this International Year is also an opportunity for all stakeholders to step up and achieve Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals by taking concrete actions to eliminate child labour for good.”
The virtual race will be conducted for one month until the 12th of July, reaching out to more than 5,000 runners and cyclists across Indonesia. Registered runners and cyclists are encouraged to complete 12.6 and 25 kilometres, respectively, within two weeks by submitting their running or cycling records through selected mobile apps.
"Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, people can still stay active while at the same time support a good cause. For this event, we support a social movement to eliminate child labour and to ensure the rights to education for all children,” stated Enrico Hugo, CEO and Co-founder of Cause Indonesia who have previously collaborated with the ILO to promote decent work for all.
Through this virtual race movement, registered participants will show their support to the elimination of child labour by signing a petition to end child labour and to promote education for better future of all Indonesian children. The petition will be submitted to the Ministry of Manpower to support efforts taken to reach a future without child labour in the country.
The 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour was unanimously adopted in a UN General Assembly resolution in 2019. The main aim of the year is to urge governments to do what is necessary to achieve Target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this year’s World Day Against Child Labour supports and focuses on actions taken for the International Year.
Target 8.7 asks Member States to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, and by 2025 to end child labour in all its forms.
In the last 20 years, almost 100 million children have been removed globally from child labour, bringing numbers down from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016. However, global progress to end child labour has come to a halt for the first time in over two decades, reversing the downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016. The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years. That means one out of every 10 children is today in child labour.
Indonesia has made a good progress in the elimination of child labour whose majority were found in agriculture sector. However, like any other countries globally, the COVID-19 crisis has brought additional poverty and may reverse years of progress in the fight against child labour. Therefore, the ILO in Indonesia is currently working on updating the child labour prevalence estimation that will be launched in upcoming month as an effort to support Indonesian government mapping Indonesia’s current situation of child labour.
ILO’s Communications Officer
Email: gita@ilo.org
The event also marks the commencement of the End Child Labour Virtual Race under the theme: Act Now, End Child Labour. The kick-off event will be officially opened by the Ministry of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, ILO Country Director for Indonesia, Michiko Miyamoto and will be attended by ILO Regional Senior Specialist on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Bharati Pflug, as well as relevant ministries, civil society organizations, representatives of industrial associations and workers organizations.
“There is no place for child labour in society,” said ILO Country Director for Indonesia, Michiko Miyamoto. “It robs children of their future and keeps families in poverty. The ILO has been working for the abolition of child labour throughout its 100 year-history and this International Year is also an opportunity for all stakeholders to step up and achieve Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals by taking concrete actions to eliminate child labour for good.”
There is no place for child labour in society. It robs children of their future and keeps families in poverty"
Michiko Miyamoto, ILO Country Director for Indonesia
"Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, people can still stay active while at the same time support a good cause. For this event, we support a social movement to eliminate child labour and to ensure the rights to education for all children,” stated Enrico Hugo, CEO and Co-founder of Cause Indonesia who have previously collaborated with the ILO to promote decent work for all.
For this event, we support a social movement to eliminate child labour and to ensure the rights to education for all children."
Enrico Hugo, CEO and Co-founder of Cause Indonesia
The 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour was unanimously adopted in a UN General Assembly resolution in 2019. The main aim of the year is to urge governments to do what is necessary to achieve Target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this year’s World Day Against Child Labour supports and focuses on actions taken for the International Year.
Target 8.7 asks Member States to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, and by 2025 to end child labour in all its forms.
In the last 20 years, almost 100 million children have been removed globally from child labour, bringing numbers down from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016. However, global progress to end child labour has come to a halt for the first time in over two decades, reversing the downward trend that saw child labour fall by 94 million between 2000 and 2016. The number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years. That means one out of every 10 children is today in child labour.
Indonesia has made a good progress in the elimination of child labour whose majority were found in agriculture sector. However, like any other countries globally, the COVID-19 crisis has brought additional poverty and may reverse years of progress in the fight against child labour. Therefore, the ILO in Indonesia is currently working on updating the child labour prevalence estimation that will be launched in upcoming month as an effort to support Indonesian government mapping Indonesia’s current situation of child labour.
For further information please contact:
Gita F. LinggaILO’s Communications Officer
Email: gita@ilo.org