International Day against Child Labour

More and more millions of children are forced to give up their dreams because of exploitation

The Terre des Hommes International Federation’s Child Labour Report 2022, published to coincide with the World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour, held from 15 to 20 May in Durban, South Africa, is alarming. According to the ILO, “160 million boys and girls are involved in child labour. For the first time in 20 years, the phenomenon is increasing worldwide and Covid has exposed almost 9 million more children to the risk of labour exploitation”. (Source: https://www.agensir.it/quotidiano/2022/6/10/lavoro-minorile-ferrara-terre-des-hommes-vediamo-un-aumento-allarmante-dello-sfruttamento-dei-bambini-il-peso-del-covid-19/).

Every day a demand for justice rises from the hearts of exploited girls and boys

Children increasingly exploited and disenfranchised

152 million children are still victims

AND IN ITALY?

Save the Children – the international organisation that has been fighting for over 100 years to save boys and girls at risk and guarantee them a future – has raised the alarm over the phenomenon of early work, which in Italy is estimated to have affected 336 thousand minors between the ages of 7 and 15 in different ways. The estimate is the result of a national survey conducted by Save the Children in 2023, from which it also emerged that about 58 thousand minors between the ages of 14 and 15 were involved in work activities that were harmful to their schooling and psychophysical well-being. (Source: www.savethechildren.it)

Photo:www.greenme.it

The data collected by Save the Children in 2023 have found further confirmation in the very recent research that the organisation has dedicated to the topic of child poverty and adolescents’ aspirations. The research, entitled ‘Tomorrows (Im)Possible’, carried out by interviewing a representative sample of young people between 15 and 16 years of age, reveals that, among these, 43.7% help their families in various ways to meet expenses and 18.6% have done and are doing some kind of work in order not to burden the family in difficulty (one out of two is under 16).