In news–World Day Against Child Labour is marked every year on 12 June.
About World Day Against Child Labour-
- The day aims to raise awareness about the exploitation of children who are engaged in child labour and also focuses on what more needs to be done to eliminate this practice.
- It aims to bring together governments and civil society organisations to combat child labour.
- The International Labour Organization (ILO) started observing World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 with an aim to highlight the plight of children who are the victims of child labour.
- The ILO Convention No. 182, which deals with the worst forms of child labour as well as ILO Convention No. 138, that deals with the minimum age for employment, are the two main global conventions on the issue.
- The theme for 2022 is “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour“.
- A total of 160 million children are still engaged in child labour, with some of them as young as five years old.
- According to the United Nations, one in 10 children aged five years and over, were involved in child labour worldwide at the beginning of 2020.
- The Africa and the Asia and the Pacific regions together account for almost nine out of every ten children in child labour worldwide.
- The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab States (1 million).
About International Labour Organization (ILO)-
- ILO is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards.
- Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.
- The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands.
- It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
- The ILO’s labour standards are aimed at ensuring accessible, productive, and sustainable work worldwide in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity.
- They are set forth in 189 conventions and treaties, of which eight are classified as fundamental according to the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; together they protect freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
- The ILO is a major contributor to international labour law.
