Established in 2002, the World Day Against Child Labor falls this year on Monday, June 12. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), child labor includes all activities that deprive children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and harm their education, health, physical development and mental.
The latest report on the subject produced in June 2021 by the ILO and Unicef reveals that 160 million girls and boys aged 5 to 17 are working worldwide, an increase of 8.4 million in four years. This is the first increase in the number of working children in twenty years.
97 million boys and 63 million girls
At the time of the publication of the report, Pope Francis called for “do everything possible” to fill “economic and social shortcomings” behind these practices. “Children are the future of the human family: it is up to all of us to promote their growth, their health and their serenity”, pointed out the pope.
In the details of the ILO publication, 97 million working children are boys and 63 million girls. 112 million working children work in agriculture, the service sector (31.4 million) or in industry (16.5 million). 79 million children engage in hazardous activities.
The link between work and schooling is not so obvious: 28% of children aged 5 to 11 and 35% of children aged 12 to 14 who work do not attend school. Child labor is also higher in rural areas (13.9%) than in urban areas (4.7%).
Regions more affected than others
“These working children are everywhere, but invisible: servants in the houses, behind the walls of the workshops, hidden in the plantations. The worst forms of child labor include the use of children as slaves, prostitution, the sale of drugs, crime or recruitment as soldiers in conflict situations or for other dangerous work”note l’Unicef in the report.
Some regions of the world are more affected than others. In sub-Saharan Africa, 23.9% of children work (representing 16.6 million children), the highest proportion of all geographical areas. In comparison, they are 6% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 5.6% in Asia and the Pacific and 2.3% in Europe and North America.
In France, the work of minors linked to compulsory schooling
In France, around 1840-1850, children under 14 represented 15 to 20% of the workforce in factories and factories. A first law, voted in March 1841, fixed at 8 years the minimum age to work in the companies of more than twenty employees. The text limits the working day for 8-12 year olds to eight hours and twelve hours for 12-16 year olds. He specifies that the work can only take place from 5 am to 9 pm.
The minimum age for hiring was raised to 12 years in 1874. At the same time, night work was prohibited. But the historical evolution of the work of minors in France remains linked to that of compulsory schooling, voted in 1881. In 1892, children could not work before the age of 12 and obtaining the certificate of studies. And in 1959, compulsory education was extended until the age of 16. Today, in the event of concealed child labor, the employer incurs a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of €75,000.
2023-06-12 04:14:09
#World #Day #Child #Labour #million #girls #boys #concerned
