World Day Against Child Labor: No to Domestic Work! International Labour Organization
go to original June 12, 2013

World Day Against Child Labour is on the 12th June. Support a worthwhile cause. (JonJosephNeal)

"There is no room for complacency when 215 million children are still labouring to survive and more than half of these are exposed to the worst forms of child labour, including slavery and involvement in armed conflict. We cannot allow the eradication of child labour to slip down the development agenda — all countries should be striving to achieve this target, individually and collectively." -Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General

Hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights. Of these children, more than half are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Each year on 12 June, the World Day brings together governments, employers and workers organizations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.

Around the world, large numbers of children are engaged in paid or unpaid domestic work in the home of a third party or employer. These children can be particularly vulnerable to exploitation. Their work is often hidden from the public eye, they may be isolated, and they may be working far away from their family home. Stories of the abuse of children in domestic work are all too common. On the 2013 World Day Against Child Labour the ILO calls for:

• Legislative and policy reforms to ensure the elimination of child labour in domestic work and the provision of decent work conditions and appropriate protection to young workers in domestic work who have reached the legal working age.
• Ratify ILO Convention No. 189 concerning decent work for domestic workers and its implementation along with the ILO’s child labour Convention.
• Action to build the Worldwide movement against child labour and to build the capacity of domestic workers organizations to address child labour.

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