World day against child labor

by Aktion Deutschland Hilft

Child labor affects more than 152 million girls and boys between the ages of five and 17 worldwide. Almost half of them are at risk.

Poverty and exploitation are commonplace for millions of children

Some children work around their parents to support. Many are abused as cheap labor or are not paid at all. There are child laborers who are completely on their own. They are about bare survival.

On June 12 – the International Day Against Child Labor – the International Labor Organization (ILO) draws attention to these girls and boys. She emphasizes that child labor is not compatible with international rights for children and young people.

Image gallery: children have rights

numbers & Facts about child labor worldwide

The most There are child workers in Africa (72 million); followed by Asia and the Pacific (62 million). A large part is active in agriculture.

Around a third of working children do not go to school at all. Millions of students, in turn, work in parallel with the class. One thing is certain: children who have to toil do not have any faire Opportunity for education. This limits their options on the job market.

What forms of child labor are there??

The ILO differentiates between different forms of child labor:

Children in employment

This category includes all children who work more than one hour a week inside or outside their own household. That includes light work – paid and unpaid.

Child labor

As soon as children do hard work or work below the country’s legal age, they fall into this category. That affects 152 million girls and boys around the world.

Dangerous work

All work that harms physical and mental health and children’s development falls into this category. This worst form includes slavery, military recruitment, prostitution and child abuse in drug trafficking. Long working days, night shifts, work on dangerous machines or with toxic substances also play a role.

Worldwide, 73 million boys and girls have to undertake such exploitative work. The number of unreported cases is much higher.

Conflicts and Flight: Triggers for Child Labor

The worldwide number of working children is declining. In 2000 it was 246 million. But it is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. Child labor occurs particularly in countries with a weak economy and in regions that are affected by natural disasters. There are particularly many child laborers in areas where there is armed conflict.

Poverty, hunger and extreme weather conditions such as droughts often lead to children working instead of going to school. The way to the school building is often too long or the fear of violence too great – and in the event of a disaster, every helping hand is necessary.

Children who are orphaned due to diseases such as HIV / AIDS or Ebola often have no other choice: they have to take care of themselves. In many refugee families, children also support their parents by working.

Worldwide emergency aid for children

The aid organizations of our alliance help children & young people:

We help children and families affected by natural disasters or humanitarian crises
We provide children with medical nutrition, food, drinking water and medication
We help refugee children and their parents – on the run and when starting again in the host country
We help children from crisis areas to process traumatic experiences
We enable children to go to school and adolescents an education. This is how we prepare them for an independent life

Learn more in this interactive graphic!

Thank you for supporting our Alliance’s emergency aid with your donation. You are helping children and their families worldwide!

Sources: ILO, Federal Agency for Civic Education (as of 06/2019)

Aktion Deutschland Hilft, Alliance of German Aid Organizations,
asks for donations for disaster preparedness:

Donation keyword: disaster preparedness
Donation hotline: 0900 55 10 20 30 (fixed network free of charge, mobile higher)
IBAN DE62 3702 0500 0000 1020 30, BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
Donate securely online!

Children in need

Children in developing countries and crisis areas are often affected by hunger, lack of education or child labor. Find out more about children in need.

Children at war

250,000 children are deployed as soldiers worldwide. In Africa, for example, our alliance organizations help to give former child soldiers a perspective.