This story was written by the ILO Newsroom For official ILO statements and speeches, please visit our “Statements and Speeches” section.

Child labour and human trafficking

Top DJ duo NERVO debut song to raise awareness of child labour and human trafficking

Ahead of World Day Against Human Trafficking, top-ranked female DJ duo NERVO have teamed up with the children’s charity Hopeland and the International Labour Organization to urge action on child vulnerability, child labour and human trafficking.

Press release | 26 July 2022
GENEVA / NEW YORK (ILO News / Hopeland) – All time top-ranking DJ sisters Liv and Mim Nervo have written a new track – debuted during their main stage performance at the Tomorrowland dance music festival in Belgium – to raise awareness of child vulnerability, child labour and trafficking.

The track, composed by NERVO, for a collaboration with children’s charity Hopeland and the International Labour Organization (ILO), was debuted to coincide with World Day Against Human Trafficking on 30 July and is set to be officially released later this year.

NERVO’S performances over three weekends at Tomorrowland, will raise awareness of these pressing issues, so that more people take action to end child labour and trafficking worldwide.


After learning more about the issues through our work with Hopeland, we decided that we were going to make a record, do what we do best, to open people’s eyes to such a global problem."

Mim Nervo

The first thing we can do is build awareness and support the right organizations, so that we can help spur action to support families, get kids in school and end the cycle of poverty and vulnerability."

Liv Nervo
Around the world today, over 160 million children are in child labour, 79 million are in hazardous forms of work and 10 million are in modern slavery. The COVID-19 pandemic and increases in poverty have hampered efforts to reduce these numbers.

“Awareness of the issues and an understanding of the action needed are so important, which is why we welcome NERVO’S passion and commitment. We know what works and that’s social protection to support families and tackle poverty, decent work and a fair wage for parents, and access to education for all children,” said Lieve Verboven, Director of the ILO Brussels Office.

Governments have committed to fight poverty and end child labour by 2025 as part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. These commitments were restated at the Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in 2022 as part of the Durban Declaration.

“The numbers linked to the issue can be overwhelming, but it is a story of individual children’s lives robbed of their potential. It can however also be a story of hope. We can change families’ situations and children’s lives for the better. By supporting families, child labour and trafficking can be eliminated. Education for all children is possible. It takes action from all of us – that's why Hopeland uses its platform to bring awareness to this cause and why NERVO’S involvement is a huge boost to our efforts,” said Nick Evans, CEO and Co-Founder of Hopeland and Deborra-lee Furness, Co-Founder of Hopeland.

NERVO will perform the track again during their last performance at this year’s Tomorrowland festival on Sunday 31 July.

The story behind the child labour data

For interviews and concert footage please contact:


Hopeland pioneers innovative solutions and builds new partnerships to prevent family separation, reunify children who are separated from their families, and mobilize a movement of families to support children who are growing up outside of family care.

The International Labour Organization is the United Nations agency for the world of work. We bring together governments, employers and workers to drive a human-centred approach to the future of work through employment creation, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue.