Parmita Uniyal
New Delhi: Amid fears of rise in child labour due to social and economic crisis triggered by Coronavirus pandemic, Nobel laureates, business leaders, UN agencies and other world leaders have joined hands to launch the Fair Share to End Child Labour campaign.
The campaign, led by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, will work towards a fair share of resources, policies and social protection to eradicate child labour.
“When we call for a fair share we call for creating a new culture of justice and equality. We are igniting a fire of change that is not going to stop here. It will multiply and end this age-old crime against humanity- the crime of child labour. We will march on so that no child is left behind. We will leave no stone unturned to end child labour,” said Satyarthi at the global launch of the campaign on January 21.
Despite global efforts to eliminate child labour many countries especially in Asia and Africa continue to fight the scourge.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General WHO expects an upsurge in child labour due to Covid pandemic.
“The social and economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will result in up to 66 million children falling into extreme poverty on top of the estimated 386 million children already in extreme poverty,” he said speaking at the campaign launch event.
As per Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD, one in 10 children are still deprived of a safe and protected childhood. Eliminating child labour from the world is one of the key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.
Millions of children fail to pursue their dreams as they fall in the trap of human traffickers or are exploited by their own family members. They do not get education and remain engaged in manual and forced labour for life.
José Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Laureate & President of Timor-Leste (2007-2012) noted that while annual wealth of the world has increased by $30 trillion in the last 20 years one in 10 children alive today are still so poor, so hungry that they are forced to work in fields, factories, mines and homes in order to survive.
“This would not be happening if they had a fair share of resource, this would not be happening if they had a fair share of policies or social protection in place for other children. It would not be happening if we paid attention to their lives and the injustices they face every day. Heads of State must fulfill their promise of the eradication of child labour, without which the global sustainability agenda will be no more than eyewash,” he said.