“Social justice for all, let’s eliminate child labour!” ». So this is the chosen theme, for 2023 to celebrate June 12 of each year, the “World Day Against Child Labour”. The purpose of this day is to promote preventive actions and raise awareness of the regulations in force to combat child labor and better protect victims.
Actions to raise public awareness, as part of the celebration of the World Day Against Child Labor, date back to 2007
Since 2019, Madagascar, as a pioneer country of the Alliance 8.7 5 (ICI), pledged to take immediate and effective action to eradicate forced labour; ending modern slavery and human trafficking; prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labor, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers and, by 2025, end child labor in all its forms.
But, despite all these efforts, much remains to be done in Madagascar.
Recent quantitative data are lacking. According to the latest known figures from the Employment and Informal Economy Survey, the situation is still alarming. According to the current trend, these figures, although they deserve an update, are valid:
28% of children between the ages of 5 and 17 already work to survive or contribute to the needs of their families and nearly 60% of them perform the worst form of work that a child can not bear, like tourism sexual, 80% of children work in agriculture;
The majority of children (2/3) work as family help;
Only 65% of Malagasy children between the ages of 5 and 17 attend school;
Only 44% of working children attend school.
The further away the school is, the less chance the child has of being educated. Schoolchildren work weekends. They help their parents find food for the farm animals.
Of these figures, eliminating child labor is still an emergency for Madagascar. Ways and means must be found to act quickly in order to achieve many SDGs, including the one on poverty, education, inequality and justice. Also, all actions must address the root causes of child labour.
The commitment announced by the new Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Gilbert F. Houngbo, is as follows: “…I pledge to represent the voices of those who rely on us at the ILO. I am thinking of the four billion people in the world who do not have access to social protection. I am thinking of the more than 200 million women and men who are faced with unemployment. To the 160 million working children. To the 1.6 billion people who work in the informal sector. Businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, that face supply chain disruption or closure due to crises including the pandemic, climate change and armed conflict. I think of the women and men who face discrimination, violence and harassment in the workplace and elsewhere. These are all expressions of an unacceptable social injustice that we are morally, if not legally, required to combat.…”
On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour, a high-level side event will be organized by the ILO during the 111th session of the International Labor Conference in which the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, will participate. The discussion will focus on the link between social justice and the elimination of child labour. Panelists will present examples of how ILO constituents have followed through on their commitments and how these are important steps towards improving social justice.
Collected by Jeannot Ramambazafy and Andry Rakotonirainy
