When is World Day Against Child Labor?
June 12th is World Day Against Child Labor.
What is World Day Against Child Labor?
Child labor is saddening. The most formative years of a kid’s life should be spent running through the fields, not harvesting them. World Day Against Child Labor raises awareness about the need to eradicate child labor, especially in its ugliest forms.
But they’re kids, right? Kids are great and all, but what work can they actually do? Some kids work in the services while others keep industrial jobs, like miners, but most child laborers work in agriculture. Herding livestock, fishing, forestry, and subsistence farming are just a few common occupations.
It’s not just helping around the farm though. These kids work hard. They don’t just put a few hours in after school. Many work instead of attending school, starting as early as age five.
Sometimes child labor is complicated. Natural disasters and military conflicts impoverish families. That can make it necessary for the kids to help support the family. Modern slavery perpetrates the worst forms of child labor though, like sexual exploitation and the use of child soldiers.
World Day Against Child Labor fights these atrocities by promoting the prohibition of child labor in its nastiest expressions.
Facts about World Day Against Child Labor!
- There are 218 million kids between 5 and 17 working for a living around the world.
- Half of the kids in child labor are working hazardous jobs.
- Africa accounts for half of the world’s child laborers—almost 20% of African children.
- Around 300,000 kids are being used as child soldiers today. Girls make up 40% of that number, though many of them wind up also being used as sex slaves.
- The International Labor Organization created the World Day Against Child Labor in 2002.
How to celebrate World Day Against Child Labor:
Donate to organizations working to identify and intervene on the behalf of children forced into military conflicts or the sex trade.
What’s the hashtag for World Day Against Child Labor?
Use #WorldDayAgainstChildLabor and #WDACL on social media to fight the monstrous exploitation of children.