Day Against Child Labour

12 June 2014 is World Day Against Child Labour.

Extend social protection: Combat child labour!

In 2013, the international community adopted a declaration stressing the need for:

  • Decent work for adults;
  • Free, compulsory, quality education for all children; and
  • Social protection for everyone.

Reflecting this, World Day Against Child Labour 2014 calls for: WDFCL_poster

  • Enhanced social protection, including adequate and predictable benefits granted by law, gender equality, non-descrimination, response to special needs, and more;
  • National social security systems that take children’s needs into consideration and help fight child labour;
  • Enhanced social protection for those that are particularly vulnerable.

While the number of child labourers globally has declined, the progress is too slow to meet the 2016 target to put an end to the worst types of child labour. This means there needs to be increased efforts across the board.

Social protection impacting children includes:

  • Programs that enhance income and health security for families, assisting them to find and keep work so the children don’t have to.
  • Maternity benefits that allow new mothers to care for their children.
  • Further social protection for people with disabilities and who suffer from work-related injuries.

All of these forms of protection help to support vulnerable families and prevent households from turning to child labour and removing them from their education.

To find out more about the International Labour Organization’s campaign to combat child labour, have a look at their brochure about social protection.

Spreading awareness helps because increased pressure from the community, government workers and organisations encourages the world’s leaders to increase their own efforts.

 

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