As the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour opens in Durban, South Africa, the International Labour Organisation ILO says over 160 million children are being used in child labour.
According to the ILO, the figure indicates that almost one in ten of all children worldwide are in child labour.
According to a statement from the ILO Office in Nigeria, “Numbers are rising, and the pandemic threatens to reverse years of progress. Child labour has grown particularly in the 5 to 11-year-old age group”.
The conference is therefore calling for a “strong” urgent action to combat the rising numbers of children being used in child labour.
Speaking at the start of a week of discussions, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, called on delegates to commit to taking what he called “far-reaching actions” to make a difference in the lives of children.
“We are here because we share a common conviction that child labour in all its facets is an enemy. Child labour is an enemy of our children’s development and an enemy of progress.
“No civilization, no country and no economy can consider itself to be at the forefront of progress if its success and riches have been built on the backs of children”, the President said.
Speaking in the same vein, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization Mr Guy Ryder, said that some people believe that child labour is an inevitable consequence of poverty and have to be accepted.
“But this is wrong. We can never resign ourselves to child labour. We do not have to.
“Tackling the root causes such as household poverty is essential but make no mistake, child labour is a violation of a basic human right, and our goal must be that every child, everywhere is free from it. We cannot rest until that happens”, he said.
With the 2025 UN Sustainable Development Goals deadline for the elimination of child labour looming, many speakers according to the statement outlined the urgent need to recover the progress that had been made in many regions prior to the COVID-19 pandemic .
It said that this is the first time the Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour has been held in Africa, “a region where, based on sheer numbers, child labour numbers are highest and progress has been slowest”.
The ILO revealed that about 70 percent of child labour on the continent is in agriculture, often in settings where children are working alongside their families
The conference will build on four previous Global Conferences, held in Buenos Aires (2017), Brasilia (2013), The Hague (2010), and Oslo (1997), which raised awareness of the issue, assessed progress, mobilized resources, and established a strategic direction for the global movement against child labour.
It is expected to conclude with a Durban Call to Action that will outline concrete commitments to scale up action to eliminate child labour.
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