The devastating effects of the corona pandemic could ruin 20 years of progress in reducing child labor – the United Nations is warning of this on Friday’s International Day against child labor.
“Millions of children run the risk of being pushed back into child labor as a result of the crisis,” said the children’s aid organization Unicef and the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Friday. “That would mean that child labor increased for the first time since 2000.”
The latest ILO child labor estimates, published in 2017, refer to 2016. Around 152 million children between the ages of five and 17 worked worldwide. That was 94 million fewer than in 2000. At that time, the ILO estimated that the number would drop to a maximum of 121 million this year. The United Nations actually wanted to eliminate child labor by 2025.
Schools protect children from exploitation
But there are already signs that child labor is increasing, while schools around the world are closing to reduce the risk of infection with the corona virus, the report says. The UN organizations cannot yet provide concrete figures. They refer to earlier studies in, for example, the Ivory Coast, South Africa or Brazil, where child labor skyrocketed after the economic downturn.
More than 90 percent of all learners are affected by temporary school closures, which is 1.6 billion young people worldwide. Schools also protected children from exploitation, this control has now been removed. “Even if classes start again, some parents may no longer be able to afford to send their children to school,” the report says.
In the greatest need, families would often involve children in the struggle for survival. Some parents wouldn’t know how to help other than send children away. This increases the risk that these young people will be exploited.
Less than $ 1.90 a day
The World Bank estimates that 40 to 60 million people could slide into extreme poverty this year as a result of the Corona crisis. You would then have to live on less than $ 1.90 a day. In 2015, this affected 734 million people – around ten percent of the world’s population. There are no newer numbers.
If 60 million people actually slide into extreme poverty, that would be an increase of eight percent compared to 2015. According to studies, every increase in poverty by one percentage point means an increase in child labor by 0.7 percentage points.
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