| 24th
February, 2005
One in 12 of the world’s children are
forced into child labour, according to a new report from UNICEF’S
British arm.
The report found that 180 million children aged under 18 years
are either slaves, forced labourers or soldiers, or are involved
in hazardous work, commercial sexual exploitation or illicit
activities.
Ninety-seven per cent of the 180 million children were said
to be living in developing countries.
UNICEF’s UK executive director, David Bull, said that
one way to put an end to the exploitation of children is to
address underlying causes such as poverty and inadequate education.
“One billion children around the world are still living
in poverty and this is an unacceptable injustice,” he
said.
The report shows that poverty has a direct impact on child
labour with between 30 and 60 per cent of children working
in countries where annual incomes are $US500 or less per person
compared with between 10 and 30 per cent in countries where
the annual income is between $US500 and $US1,000.
The report shows that 352 million children aged between five
and 17 are engaged in some form of work with 211 working in
family homes or on farms in agricultural and domestic labour.
In Africa alone, nearly half of all children aged between
five and 14 are working.
- DAVID ADAMS
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