World Day Against Child Labour to be marked on June 12

Islamabad: Like other parts of the globe, World Day Against Child Labour will be marked on June 12 (Tuesday) in Pakistan to raise awareness of the plight of child laborers world-wide.

Every year, numerous events are held around the world on June 12 to mark the World Day Against Child Labour and call attention to the problem. Child labor is especially rampant in many developing countries - but even in industrialized nations many children are forced to work.

According to UNICEF, children in the United States are employed in agriculture, a high proportion of them from immigrant or ethnic-minority families. There have also been a number of incidents of westerns companies exploiting child labourers in developing countries to save production costs.

In 2011, there were an estimated 215 million child labourers in the world - 115 million of which were involved in hazardous work. To combat child labour around the world the International Labour Organisation (ILO) initiated the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002. This year, the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) and the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (SafeDay) shine a spotlight on the global need to improve the safety and health of young workers and end child labour.

This joint campaign aims to accelerate action to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 8.8 of safe and secure working environments for all workers by 2030 and SDG target 8.7 of ending all forms of child labour by 2025.

Achieving these goals for the benefit of the next generation of the global workforce requires a concerted and integrated approach to eliminating child labour and promoting a culture of prevention on occupational safety health (OSH).