Resource guide on child labour

"The term 'child labour' is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that:
- is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and
- interferes with their schooling by:
- depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;
- obliging them to leave school prematurely; or
- requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work."

International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC): About child labour

On this page: Find information on child labour through Labordoc • International Labour Standards • Statistics • In the media • Key ILO documents • ILO databases • ILO links • External links • Photos • Slideshows • Videos

Find information on child labour through Labordoc

• ILO publications on child labour
• All publications on child labour available in Labordoc

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International Labour Standards

Conventions

• C5 Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919
• C7 Minimum Age (Sea) Convention, 1920
• C10 Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention, 1921
• C33 Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention, 1932
• C58 Minimum Age (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1936
• C59 Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937
• C60 Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention (Revised), 1937
• C112 Minimum Age (Fishermen) Convention, 1959
• C123 Minimum Age (Underground Work) Convention, 1965
• C138 Minimum Age Convention, 1973
• C182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999

Recommendations

• R124 Minimum Age (Underground Work) Recommendation, 1965
• R146 Minimum Age Recommendation, 1973
• R190 Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation, 1999

International labour standards can be found in the NORMLEX database.

Statistics

• ILO: Child Labour Statistics
• International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC): Child labour statistics
• Understanding Children's Work (UCW): Child labour indicators

In the media

Latest news

• USDOL grants ILO USD 17.5 million to combat child and forced labour, 3 October 2011
• ILO and chocolate and cocoa industry forge new partnership to combat child labour in West Africa, 12 September 2011
• Questions and answers on the hidden reality of children in domestic work, 8 August 2011
• The impact of pesticide exposure on child labourers in agriculture, 22 June 2011
• Tackling child labour through Public-Private-Local Community Partnership, 21 June 2011

World of Work, the magazine of the ILO

• The fight against child labour: moving into a higher gear (pdf 2.33 MB) (World of Work n° 69, August 2010)
• The end of child labour: millions of voices, one common hope (pdf 3.95 MB) (World of Work n° 61, December 2007)