Child Labor Day

Child Labor Day or World Day Against Child Labor is observed annually on June 12. The day has been around since 2002 when the International Labor Organization (I.L.O.) declared it an international day to raise awareness about child labor and the need to make efforts to prevent it. Since 2002, Child Labor Day or World Day Against Child Labor has been an annual occurrence where countries and international organizations come together to make efforts against child labor. Apart from spreading awareness and engineering activism, the most important thing is to find ways to eradicate child labor from the roots as more than half of all these children are being subjected to some worse forms of child labor. These are hazardous and extremely illegal, like human trafficking
resulting in forced prostitution. Child labor refers to the exploitation of children, especially in developing countries, while depriving them of childhood and access to education because of their poor economic conditions. Child labor has existed throughout history in different forms. Recorded evidence of children involved in labor like adults has been present since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, in which children
used to work twelve hours a shift daily. To support the rapidly industrialized economy, western nations needed more and more labor and the best source available to them as children. In comparison to older days, when a single man of the house was enough to feed the family, the economic recession during the industrial revolution quite badly affected the ordinary man and his family. Children along with women had to come out to work in factories to make enough money which barely ensured their survival, and since then this exploitation of children as a source of the cheap labor force has prevailed. Overall in the world, Africa has consistently stood at the number one position when it comes to child labor, one in every five children is involved in child labor. The second worst numbers come from the Asian-Pacific belt, where 7% of all the children are victims of child labor. Child Labor has been among the most discussed topics in the U.N. and other international organizations and serious efforts have been to prevent child labor, but still, around 160 million children are involved in child labor and the world still needs more efforts to eradicate child labor from the roots.