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Sub-Saharan Africa

October 22, 2010/in Fast Facts /by Reid Maki

While many areas of the world are experiencing some progress in reducing child labor, Sub-Saharan Africa is seeing an increase in child labor activity.

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Child Soldiers

The countries identified by the US government in 2018 as using child soldiers: Burma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Hazardous Labor

In 2012, more than half of child laborers—85 million—are in hazardous work (down from 171 million in 2000). Source:ILO

Latin America and the Middle East

There are 13 million (8.8%) of children in child labor in Latin America and the Caribbean ...and in the Middle East and North Africa there are 9.2 million (8.4%). Source: ILO

Child labor among girls is falling...

Child labor among girls fell by 40% between 2000 and 2012, compared to 25% for boys. Source: ILO

The Philippines

The Philippines has 2.9 million child laborers but in its 2013 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, USDOL said the country was making "significant" progress in dealing with the problem. [source: https://tinyurl.com/llxpt2o]

Child Domestic Servants

According to an ILO report in 2013, 10.5 million children work as domestic servants around the world.

Philippines

In the Philippines, an estimated 246,000 children experience abuse, violence and child labor living on the streets.

Child Mining

An estimated 1 million children perform hazardous work in mines around the world.

Child Trafficking

According to UNICEF, 1.2 million children are trafficked each year--many for purposes of sexual exploitation.

Ivory Coast

According to a Tulane University study, 40 per cent of the 820,000 children working in cocoa in Ivory Coast are not enrolled in school, and only about 5 per cent of the Ivorian children are paid for their work.

Schooling and Conflict

In underdeveloped countries, every additional year of schooling reduces an adolescent boy’s risk of becoming involved in conflict by 20 percent. According to one study, a country that enrolls more than 87 percent of its children in school decreases its risk of conflict by nearly 75 percent.

The Philippines

According to the Philippine government, one in five Filipino children is involved in child labor--5.5 million in all.

Forced Labor

In June 2012, the ILO estimated that 21 million people had experienced forced labor over a 10-year period--5.5 million had been children.

Trafficking

The State Department estimates that 27 million people worldwide, most of them women and children, are victims of human trafficking, forced into labor or prostitution.

Child Labor & Brick Making

According to U.S. DOL/ILAB, bricks are produced by child labor in 15 countries: Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Ecuador, India, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Peru, Uganda, and Colombia.

Gold

18 countries produce gold with child labor and many children are exposed to toxic substances like mercury during the process.

Cambodia

In Cambodia, 52 per cent of children aged between seven and 14 work—over 1.4 million children.

A 2005 survey by NCL found that 96% of those Americans surveyed would not let their own children work in the fields as hired farmworkers under 13--something allowed by current U.S. Child Labor law.

Remediation

Between 1995 and 2010, the U.S. Congress appropriated approximately $780 million to the U.S. Department of Labor to support global efforts to combat exploitive child labor.

India

India is home to one-fifth of the world's child population.

Progress in Two Areas

The ILO reports that in the four-year period ending in 2008, the number of child laborers among 5- to 14-year-olds fell 10 percent and the number children in hazardous work fell 31 percent.

Uncovered

The proportion of children who live in countries that have not yet ratified ILO Convention 182 (on the worst forms of child labor) or Convention 138 (on the minimum age): 1 in 3

Agriculture

6 in 10 child laborers work in agriculture, most commonly as unpaid workers on family farms

Sub-Saharan Africa

While many areas of the world are experiencing some progress in reducing child labor, Sub-Saharan Africa is seeing an increase in child labor activity.

Hazardous work

Levels of hazardous work seem to be dropping for girls but not for boys.

The World Wide Recession?

The number of youth, 15- to 17-years-old, who work increased 20 percent in the period 2004-2008, while child labor rates are believed to have fallen among young children, particularly girls.

Total Child Workers

The estimate of child laborers in the world: 168 million Source: ILO

Decline of Child Labor Slowing?

The ILO reports that while child labor around the world decreased 10 percent between 2000 and 2004, it only decreased 3 percent between 2004 and 2008.

Nutrition

Almost 55 million children under the age of 5 in India are underweight.

2000: Human Right's Watch Report Fingers to the Bone

Human Rights Watch publishes a report outlining the exploitation of children in US agriculture entitled “Fingers to the Bone: United States Failure to Protect Child Farmworkers.”

Trafficking - Africa

According to a UNICEF report in 2003, the number of 53 African countries with human trafficking problems: 49

Trafficking

Nearly one in five victims of trafficking around the world are children.

1995: Death of Iqbal Masih Child Labor Activist

Iqbal Masih, a former child slave in the carpet industry in Pakistan, is murdered for his international advocacy of child rights at the age of 13. His courage and determination continues to inspire children, activists, and officials.

1832: Association Condemns Child Labor

The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen officially condemns child labor.

1836: Union Proposes Minimum Age Laws

Early trade unions at the National Trades' Union Convention propose requiring state minimum age laws for factory work.