Millones of children around the world are trapped in child labor, depriving them of their childhood, their health and education, and condemning them to a life of poverty and want. Of course, there is work that children do to help their families in ways that are neither harmful nor exploitative. But many children are stuck in unacceptable work for children- a serious violation of their rights.
UNICEF supports communities in changing their cultural acceptance of child labor, while supporting strategies and programming to provide alternative income to families, quality education, and protective services.
UNICEF also partners with civil society organizations to support a holistic child protection approach to child labor, contribute to the evidence base on child labor through research and data collection, and advocate across all stakeholders to end child labor.
Children often worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little money. Children were useful as laborers because their size allowed them to move in small spaces in factories or mines where adults couldn’t fit, children were easier to manage and control and perhaps most importantly, children could be paid less than adults. Child laborers often worked to help support their families, but were forced to forgo an education. Nineteen century reformers and labor organizers sought to restrict child labor and improve working conditions, but it took a market crash to finally sway public opinion. During the Great Depression, Americans wanted all available jobs to go to adults rather than children.
Around the world, growing gaps between rich and poor in recent decades have forced millions of young children out of school and into work. The international labor organization (ILO) estimates that 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 currently work under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative. Underage children work at all sorts of jobs around the world, usually because they and their families are extremely poor. Large numbers of children work in commercial agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, and domestic service. Some children work in illicit activities like the drug trade and prostitution or other traumatic activities such as serving as soldiers.