Gladness Gideon
As the world marked the International Day of Play on June 11 and prepares to observe the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, a joint report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that an estimated 138 million children remained engaged in child labour in 2024, including 54 million involved in hazardous work.
The report, released on Wednesday, highlights both progress and persistent challenges in the global fight against child labour. While there has been a reduction of more than 20 million children in child labour since 2020, the world is still falling short of its internationally agreed goal to end child labour by 2025.
According to the findings, child labour has nearly halved since the year 2000, even as the global child population rose by 230 million during the same period. Despite these gains, the rate of decline remains far too slow. The report estimates that to eliminate child labour by the 2025 deadline, the pace of progress would need to be 11 times faster than it is currently.
However, the data also offers some relief. Fears of a spike in child labour due to the COVID-19 pandemic have not been realised. Instead, the world has managed to return to a trajectory of gradual improvement. In 2000, over 238 million children were estimated to be engaged in child labour. That number has now fallen by more than 100 million, underscoring what targeted policy and international cooperation can achieve.
The report attributes the recent progress to a combination of effective policy measures. These include guaranteeing access to free, quality education; aligning labour laws with international standards; strengthening occupational safety measures for adolescents entering the workforce; and developing education systems that support the transition from school to decent employment.
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But the ILO and UNICEF stressed that eliminating child labour requires more than isolated reforms. They urged governments to integrate child labour concerns into broader economic and social development plans—from national budgets to sectoral labour policies—if meaningful and sustained progress is to be achieved.
In a joint statement, the agencies expressed cautious optimism, noting that although the challenge remains immense, the world has a “blueprint for success” in hand.
With adequate resources, effective policies, and sustained political commitment, they said, future generations can be freed from the burdens of child labour.