The Solidarity Center supports trade unions around the world in their efforts to eliminate child labor.
More than 200 million children are not in school today because they are forced to work. Children as young as five years old are part of the global workforce. In factories and in fields, children work up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Agriculture, mining, fishing, seafood processing, manufacturing, hospitality, domestic work and street vending are a few of the many sectors where child labor is rampant.
Child labor is one of the worst forms of exploitation. Child workers are deprived of education, forced to work in dangerous situations, beaten and sexually abused and crippled by work-related illnesses and injuries. Children are sold or indentured to employers who pay impoverished families for the use of their children. An ensuing cycle of poverty pushes adults from their jobs and drives down wages worldwide.
Although most countries have laws against child labor, and it is banned by officially recognized conventions (agreements) between nations and the United Nations and the International Labor Organization (ILO), child labor exists globally. Child labor is most common in workplaces and sectors where there are no unions and where other worker rights violations, such as pay inequity, discrimination, and lack of health and safety measures, are widespread.
The Solidarity Center and our partners around the world are exposing the problem of child labor, pushing for policies that prepare young people for the workplace, and promoting more effective national action plans to curb this intolerable abuse of worker rights and human rights. Through Solidarity Center programs, more kids are staying in school—while their parents earn decent wages so their children don't have to work.
The Solidarity Center believes that at the heart of an effective anti-child labor strategy is the understanding that government must be willing to safeguard rights that allow individuals, unions and other civil society actors to promote decent work, have access to education and participate in democratic advocacy. The Solidarity Center’s comprehensive strategy for combating child labor strongly focuses on promoting decent work for adults as a long-term sustainable way to improve the quality of life for families, address the underlying economic root causes of child labor, and empower entire communities.
Find out more about the role of unions in eradicating child labor.
World Day against Child Labor Marks 10th Anniversary. June 12, 2012—More than 215 million children worldwide are involved in child labor, reports the International Labor Organization (ILO). More than half are exposed to slavery, forced labor, armed conflict, drug trafficking, and prostitution. Child labor denies young boys and girls the basic health, education, and childhood to which they are entitled.
Powerful Videos Tell the Story of the Fight against Child Labor. June 12, 2012—The International Labor Organization (ILO) has developed a series of videos about the struggle to eradicate child labor in Ghana, Argentina, Moldova, and many other countries. The ILO says that unions are in the forefront of the fight, but employers and governments also must play a role.
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Pakistan: Nearly 6 Million Children under 10 Are Child Laborers. June 12, 2012—Almost 12 million children, half below the age of 10, are employed as child laborers across Pakistan, and the number is growing. Children are beggars, car washers, and domestic workers, reports the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), a longtime Solidarity Center partner. In an effort to eradicate the most extreme forms of child labor in Pakistan, SPARC is conducting a national campaign during the week of June 11–16.
World Day against Child Labor Marks 10th Anniversary. June 12, 2012—More than 215 million children worldwide are involved in child labor, reports the International Labor Organization (ILO). More than half are exposed to slavery, forced labor, armed conflict, drug trafficking, and prostitution. Child labor denies young boys and girls the basic health, education, and childhood to which they are entitled.
Unions Fight Child Labor in Palestine. June 12, 2012—Poor education, poverty, and unemployment due to decades of occupation have pushed children in Palestine into the streets, where they beg passersby to purchase chewing gum, clothing, and other items. By raising awareness of this humanitarian crisis and pushing for better laws, the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) is part of the fight to end child labor and make sure children can stay in school. PGFTU recently published the stories of two children, Ahmed and Jarrah, in an effort to spread the word
List of Shame: Goods Made with Forced, Child Labor. April 5, 2012—The U.S. Department of Labor has added three products to the list of good produced by forced labor, child labor, or both. The list now includes 133 products from 71 countries, ranging from bamboo in Burma to zinc in Bolivia. Added to the list yesterday are bricks in Afghanistan and cassiterite and coltan in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Informal Economy Union Members Provide Safe Haven for AIDS Orphans. June 12, 2011—For 400 children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS, an orphanage run by women volunteers who are members of an informal workers union in Zimbabwe provides them with a safe haven and gives them a caring family.
Solidarity Center's Work Highlighted in New Child Labor Report. The U.S. Department of Labor recently released its 2009
Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, a comprehensive report that examines the efforts of 144 countries and territories to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, which include slavery, sexual exploitation, armed conflict, and forced labor. The Solidarity Center’s work and research contributed to sections on Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, and Swaziland.
Film
- The Solidarity Center helped research and promote Stolen Childhoods, a groundbreaking feature documentary on global child labor.
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