By Bimbola Oyesola, Geneva, Switzerland
The International Labour Organisation has said over 160 million children, or almost one-in-10 worldwide, are in child labour, calling for urgent cooperation from world leaders to end the menace.
The Director General of the ILO, Gilbert F. Houngbo, while speaking on World Day Against Child Labour, said to bring social justice to all, “we must end child labour”.
The ILO Director-General charged the international community to support greater social justice and step up the fight against child labour.
Noting that this year, World Day against Child Labour takes the theme, Social Justice for All. End Child Labour! Houngbo lamented that yet what is happening with child labour is the very opposite of social justice.
He expressed that for the first time in 20 years, child labour is on the rise.
“What’s worse, half – 80 million – are in the most hazardous forms of child labour; that’s work with a real threat to their physical and mental health,” he said.
He noted that child labour rarely happens not because parents are bad, or do not care, but rather, it springs from a lack of social justice.
The ILO Director General however said that the antidote to poverty-driven child labour is decent work for adults, so they can support their families and send their children to school, not to work.
“Decent work means ending forced labour, creating safe and healthy workplaces, and letting workers organize and voice their needs,” he stated.
Houngho said ending child labour means ending discrimination – because child labour often affects marginalised groups.“We must step up our fight against child labour, by supporting greater social justice. If we do this, an end to child labour is not just possible. It is within reach,” he maintained. Nigeria has come under serious scrutiny at the ongoing International Labour Organisation (ILO) 111th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) for the continuous enslavement and utilisation of children “in forced and bonded labour,” and trafficked within, through and outside the country.
The Organised labour in Nigeria at its submission as workers’s delegate has noted its distraught with the legal and administrative systems that allow perpetrators, handlers and sponsors to get away with very light sanctions.
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