13 June

A fall in child labour goes hand in hand with living standards and a nation’s economy, as well as the levels of education in the country.

Children are leaving schools and working as child labourers due to armed conflicts, poverty, migration, climate change and disasters. Insufficient food and social crises are also blamed for exploiting the labour of school-age children.

This situation has alerted governments in developing countries to become more serious about enforcing existing laws to eradicate one of the most disturbing forms of exploitation in our society.

Every year, World Day Against Child Labour reminds us how far behind we still are when it comes to eradicating child labour.

Myanmar is implementing its child labour eradication program as part of efforts to secure a better future for the children in the country, which has over 12 million children and, of these, over 600,000 are engaging in labour with 400,000 working in vulnerable situations.

Out of over 12 million children aged 5 to 17 years, over 30 percent of working children are found in rural areas and over 20 per cent are working as child labourers in cities.

To provide protection to our children working in dangerous jobs, we need to carry out the national-level child labour eradication project.

Globally, there are about 152 million children aged between 5 to 17 years. Of these, 7.4 per cent live in the Asia-Pacific region, and some 70.9 per cent work in the agricultural sector. About 73 million of these children are working in dangerous places.

Nearly 85 per cent of the world’s youth live in developing countries, and 60 per cent are in the Asian region. The youth and children’s development sectors are important in determining the future of a country and are valuable resources for a country.

Youth and children who support production resources are employed in most developing countries, especially in a developing country like Myanmar. The practice is connected to poverty, and many businesses can be seen using child labour.

Child labour deprives children of their fundamental right to acquire education. In addition, child labour exposes them to greater risk of severe forms of violence, ranging from physical to physiological, moral to sexual.

Poverty is the main reason forcing children to enter the labour force at such early ages. We have both the means and tools to prevent this. Children must be provided free and compulsory education during childhood, and safe homes and environments to ensure their bright futures.

GNLM