12 June marks the World Day Against Child Labour under the theme “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour.” On this day, the ILO, together with its constituents and partners, is calling for increased investment in social protection systems and schemes to establish solid social protection floors and protect children from child labour.

The 2022 World Day Against Child Labour will take place shortly after the 5th Global Conference on Child Labour in May. The Conference will bring together governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations from the ILO’s 187 member States, as well as other concerned partners, and will help construct a path towards a world free of child labour, as called for under SDG Target 8.7, and towards universal social protection, as reflected in SDG Target 1.3.

While significant progress has been made in reducing child labour over the last two decades, progress has slowed over time, and it has even stalled during the period 2016-2020. At the beginning of 2020, 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were involved in child labour, accounting for almost 1 in 10 children worldwide.

Government social protection systems are essential to fight poverty and vulnerability, and eradicate and prevent child labour. Social protection is both a human right and a potent policy tool to prevent families from resorting to child labour in times of crisis. However, as of 2020 and before the COVID-19 crisis took hold, only 46.9 per cent of the global population were effectively covered by at least one social protection benefit while the remaining 53.1 per cent – as many as 4.1 billion people – were left wholly unprotected. Coverage for children is even lower. Nearly three quarters of children, 1.5 billion, lacked social protection.

Significant progress towards ending child labour requires increased investment in universal social protection systems, as part of an integrated and comprehensive approach to tackle the problem.