Child labour is a global human rights issue that affects us all. Child labour refers to work that has been prohibited for children either because of their age or because of the nature of the tasks involved. Children are denied their right to a childhood, to a good education and to grow up safe and protected from harm. The ILO’s vision is of a world in which communities, sectors and countries are increasingly free of child labour and where all children have access to quality education.
In the ILO Centenary year, the World Day Against Child Labour will look back on progress achieved over a 100 years of ILO support to countries on tackling child labour. The effective abolition of child labour is one of the principles on which the ILO was founded in 1919, and has remained a key objective ever since. All the progress has acheived is covered in this brochoure.