World Day Against Child Labour 2020: How You Can Protect Children From Child Labour

World Day Against Child Labour was launched by the International Labour Organization to raise awareness about preventing child labour.

For parents, the all round development of the child or children is the most important thing, and it not only involves clothing and feeding them, but also their education, mental and emotional well being. But there are some children who are not so lucky to have parents who would do all those things, and they end up working just so they can survive. As World Day Against Child Labour 2020 approaches, we take a look at how you can play your part in preventing children from being abused.

World Day Against Child Labour was launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2002 to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labour. The day is held annually on June 12, and is intended to encourage a worldwide movement against child labour of any kind.

Here is what you can do to ensure children do not end up as child labourers:

Check Age of Employees:

The ILO’s Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), stresses the need to set a minimum age for employees, in line with the minimum school-leaving age. Ask for proof of age to ensure you are not employing a child under the age of 15 or 14 for developing countries. But do be careful as many times it is not possible to obtain a birth certificate to confirm age as most documents are falsified.

Do Not Employ Underage Children:

Whether you are hiring for your business or for your home, do make sure that you do not employ children below the relevant minimum age. When hiring children who are above the minimum age but under the age of 18, ensure they have decent working conditions.

Reduce The Working Hours:

In many countries, children between the ages of 13 and 15 or 12 and 14 in developing countries are allowed to do light work for about 14 hours per week. Reducing the number of hours they work would enable them to attend school and also do their homework.

Research Sellers or Factories:

Find out as much as you can about the employment practices of a firm or seller, and refuse to buy anything if you find out that children are being hired to work for them.

Identify Hazardous Work:

Obtain the list of hazardous work, and if you are unclear on how the law applies to your company, consult with national employers’ organizations and labour inspectors. If one does not exist, then consult the ILO website, medical personnel or safety and health experts.

Provide Support to Children Found in Child Labour:

As most children work to support their families, you could help them by ensuring they go to school. You could pay the fees for their education and help them get into vocational training programmes. Apart from that you could organise income-generating activities for parents and family members of legal working age so that there is less burden on the child.