The World Day Against Child Labour will be celebrated on 12 June 2009. The World Day this year marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the landmark ILO Convention No. 182, which addresses the need for action to tackle the worst forms of child labour. Whilst celebrating progress made during the past ten years, the World Day will highlight the continuing challenges, with a focus on exploitation of girls in child labour.
Girls and child labour
ILO standards require that countries establish a minimum age of employment (generally 15 though developing countries can set the age at 14). They also require that children (including adolescents aged 15-17) are not involved in work designated as a worst form of child labour. However in many countries of the world, girls below the minimum age of employment can be found working in a wide range of occupational sectors and services and often in the worst forms of child labour.
Large numbers of young girls labour in agriculture and in the manufacturing sector, frequently working in dangerous conditions. A major sector of employment for young girls is domestic work in third party households. Oftentimes this work is hidden from the public eye, leading to particular dangers and risks. The extreme exploitation of girls in the worst forms of child labour includes slavery, bonded labour, prostitution and pornography.
From Trilingual brochure: Give girls a chance
“Child domestic work remains a highly sensitive issue because it is so often masked by kinship arrangements within a supposedly protective environment where children – often girls – are learning useful skills. Child domestic work therefore enjoys social tolerance similar to that displayed towards agricultural work.”
Quote: The end of child labour: Within reach
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/WDACL/WorldDay2009/lang--en/index.htm
