Child Labour Swells To New High In Past Two Decades

For the first time in 20 years, the cases related to child labour has increased, the United Nations said on Thursday. Further, the coronavirus pandemic has threatened to push millions of more young lives towards the same fate.

The joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children's Fund titled, 'Child Labour: Global Estimates 2020, Trends And The Road Forward', noted that global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time in two decades.

It is said that as per global estimates, 160 million-63 million girls and 97 million boys- were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020. And of the 160 million children, nearly 79 million children were in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development.

What Are The Takeaways From The Report?

Since 2000, child labour estimates have been published by the ILO every four years. According to 2016 estimates, 152 million children were subjected to child labour. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst to be hit by this problem. There are more child labourers in this region than in the rest of the world combined.

It also noted there were 16.8 million more children aged 5 to 11 in child labour in 2020 than in 2016. Further, it stated that:

• Involvement in child labour is higher for boys than girls (11.2 per cent are in child labour compared to 7.8 per cent ) of all girls.
• It is much more common in rural areas ( about 122.7 million rural children are engaged in child labour than 37.3 million urban children).
• Is frequently associated with children being out of school.

The report said that a further 8.9 million children will be in child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of rising poverty driven by COVID.

According to the 2011 Census, India has 10.1 million child labourers.

Also Read: 'Pandemic Could Push Millions Of Children Into Labour, Trafficking, Marriage': Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi