Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to highlight the plight of children engaged in child labour. Since then, June 12 is intended to serve as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement to protect children from exploitation.
This year, the theme focused on ‘Week of Action Against Child Labour’ to inform people on the inequalities perpetuated by child labour and seek action.
As per Unicef, nearly one in 10 children are subjected to forced labour worldwide — with some pushed into hazardous work through trafficking.
According to ILO ‘Fact Sheet: Child labour in India’, “As per Census 2011, the total child population in India in the age group (5-14) years is 259.6 million. Of these, 10.1 million (3.9% of total child population) are working, either as ‘main worker’ or as ‘marginal worker’. In addition, more than 42.7 million children in India are out of school.”
The study, however, also noted that the incidence of child labour in India decreased by 2.6 million between 2001 and 2011, with the decline more visible in rural areas.
