Give Children a New Start

2021 Theme is 'Act now End Child Labor!'

On this World Day, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny support the goals set by the international community calling for an end to child labor in all its forms by 2025.

This year’s World Day Against Child Labor focuses on action taken for the 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor. It is the first World Day since the universal ratification of the ILO’s Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and takes place at time when the COVID-19 crisis.

What is Child Labor?

The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that:

is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or
interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely; or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. The answer varies from country to country, as well as among sectors within countries.

Setting Priorities

While the goal of IPEC remains the prevention and elimination of all forms of child labor, the priority targets for immediate action are the worst forms of child labor, which are defined in the ILO Convention on the worst forms of child labor, 1999 (No. 182) as:

all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery,
such as the sale and trafficking of children,
debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

The worst forms of child labor involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities – often at a very early age.

Whilst child labor takes many different forms, a priority is to eliminate without delay the worst forms of child labor as defined by Article 3 of ILO Convention No. 182 :

all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

Guidance for governments on some hazardous work activities which should be prohibited is given by Article 3 of ILO Recommendation No. 190 :

work which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse;
work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces;
work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads;
work in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations damaging to their health;
work under particularly difficult conditions such as work for long hours or during the night or work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer.