World Day Against Child Labour
- POSTED ON: 15 Jun, 2018
- TOTAL VIEWS: 1183 Views
- POSTED BY: Young World Club
- ARTICLE POINTS: 100 Points
Imagine waking up in the morning and not having to go to school. What would you do all day? Perhaps you could spend the day playing your favourite games, or maybe you could meet up with friends or visit your favourite cousins. Sounds really exciting, doesn’t it?
There are many children in the world for whom this is a reality. However, it isn’t as exciting as you may think. A lot of these children go to work and try and earn as much as they can, to help their family. There may be various reasons why some children work, depending on their circumstances. Children below a certain age who work are known as child labourers.
What is child labour, though? It is the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and which is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous. This practice is considered unfair by many international organisations, and it is prohibited across the world. However, not all work by children is considered as child labour. For example, work by child artists (e.g. child actors), family duties, supervised training, and so on. Trying to earn a little extra pocket money is also not considered child labour.
The International Labour Organisation (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 June 12, the World Day Against Child Labour brings together governments, employers and workers organisations, 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.
This year, the World Day Against Child Labour and the World Day for Safety and Health at Work shine a spotlight on the global need to improve the safety and health of young workers and end child labour.