CSC Statement for the World Day Against Child Labour

This 12^th June 2021 we recognise World Day Against Child Labour. Ahead of this day, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF have released updated global estimates on the numbers of children in child labour. Alarmingly, and for the first time in decades, the number of children engaged in child labour has increased. From their estimates, 160 million children, or 1 in 10 children, are engaged in child labour, with nearly 70 million children engaged in hazardous work.

While we welcome the efforts to collect data on children in child labour, we also want to draw attention to those at risk of being left out of the data.

These global estimates, like most national and international level studies and population reports, rely upon data from household surveys. As a result, children living outside household contexts, such as those who sleep on the street or those living in informal shelters, may not be included. Many of these children are engaged in hazardous work such as waste picking, street vending and car washing on busy roads, or commercial sexual exploitation.

By relying on global estimates without methodologies specifically designed to include these children we risk leaving some of the most vulnerable children out of decision-making and the policies and programmes designed to protect them from being engaged in hazardous work.

To identify and strengthen methods reaching hidden and vulnerable population groups, such as street-connected children, in efforts to tackle child labour, CSC is part of the Child Labour Action Research Innovation in South and South East Asia (CLARISSA) programme. This is an innovative child-centred action research programme that aims to generate evidence on and solutions to the key drivers of the worst forms of child labour in Bangladesh and Nepal.

With 2021 declared the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, and on this World Day Against Child Labour, CSC calls upon governments, international organisations, the private sector, civil society, and all other duty-bearers involved in the effort to end child labour to:

1. Listen to children and their lived experiences to ensure that solutions are rooted in their realities and the challenges they face.
2. Include and consider inclusive and citizen-driven evidence when developing programmes and policies to tackle child labour
3. Prioritise action towards tackling the worst forms of child labour to ensure that no child faces violence, abuse, exploitation or harm through work and that those children who have to work to survive can do so in a safe and secure environment that supports their development.