On World Day Against Child Labour oppose all forms of child exploitation!

Communist Party of Swaziland

12 June 2026

Statement on World Day Against Child Labour: CPS opposes all forms of child exploitation

The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) joins workers, trade unions, youth organisations, progressive movements, and people of conscience worldwide in commemorating World Day Against Child Labour.

This year’s commemoration takes place at a time of growing uncertainty and suffering for millions of children across the globe. Wars continue to rage, inequality is deepening, and economic hardships are becoming a daily reality for working-class families. From Palestine to Sudan, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to many other parts of the world, children are being displaced from their homes, denied education, exposed to hunger and violence, and, in far too many cases, losing their lives. While imperialist governments speak of peace, democracy, and development, millions of children continue to bear the consequences of conflicts and economic systems they neither created nor benefit from.

Child labour remains one of the most widespread forms of exploitation in the modern world. According to international estimates, around 160 million children are engaged in child labour globally, while nearly 79 million perform hazardous work that threatens their health, safety, and future. Africa continues to carry the heaviest burden, with almost one in every five children involved in child labour. Across the SADC region, children can still be found working in agriculture, mining, cattle herding, domestic work, street vending, and other forms of informal labour – often impacting their right to education and healthcare. Here in Swaziland, poverty, unemployment, and growing inequality continue to push many families into difficult situations where children become vulnerable to exploitation and are often forced to sacrifice their education and childhood to survive.

For the CPS, child labour is not simply the result of individual choices or unfortunate circumstances. It is rooted in the historical development of capitalism itself. From the first industrial revolution, children were pulled into factories, mines, and workshops because they were cheap to employ and easy to exploit. They worked long hours in dangerous conditions while factory owners accumulated wealth. This was not a mistake or an exception; it was an inherent part of capitalism’s development. As Karl Marx observed, the pursuit of profit drives capital to search endlessly for cheaper labour and greater exploitation.

Although the world has changed since then, the logic remains much the same. Child labour has not disappeared; it has simply shifted and adapted. Today, it is concentrated largely in poorer countries where multinational corporations and global supply chains benefit, directly or indirectly, from cheap labour. Behind many of the products consumed around the world are communities struggling with poverty, underdevelopment, and exploitation.

Child labour is also closely connected to human trafficking. Every year, countless children are trafficked into forced labour, domestic servitude, and other forms of modern slavery. Traffickers prey on vulnerable families facing poverty, unemployment, displacement, and social insecurity. They promise opportunity but deliver exploitation. The same conditions that create child labour also create the conditions for human trafficking. For this reason, the struggle against child labour cannot be separated from the struggle against human trafficking and modern slavery.

The CPS further notes that the rights of children continue to be undermined by the current global order. Imperialist wars, military occupations, sanctions, and the relentless plunder of resources by powerful interests continue to create poverty and instability across large parts of the world. Children are often the first victims. Schools are destroyed, healthcare systems collapse, families are uprooted, and entire generations are denied the opportunity to develop their full potential.

The Communist Party of Swaziland therefore unequivocally opposes all forms of child labour and child exploitation. We maintain that every child has the right to quality education, healthcare, proper nutrition, safe housing, and a life free from exploitation. No child should be forced to work because their family cannot afford basic necessities. No child should have their future stolen by poverty.

Ending child labour requires more than legislation. It requires addressing its root causes. It requires decent jobs for adults, living wages, quality public education, strong social protection systems, and the redistribution of society’s wealth to meet human needs. As long as poverty and inequality persist, child labour will continue to find fertile ground. In Swaziland, this includes the ending of the absolute monarchy and the creation of a democratic system built on people’s power.

The measure of any society is how it treats its children. A society that allows children to labour while a handful of billionaires accumulate unimaginable wealth cannot claim to be just. Our vision is of a world where children carry books instead of working tools – and where human dignity is valued over profit.

On this World Day Against Child Labour, the CPS extends its solidarity to all organisations, movements, trade unions, and communities fighting to protect children from exploitation. We stand with all children subjected to poverty, war, trafficking, occupation, and abuse. We also reaffirm our commitment to building a society where every child has the opportunity to learn, grow, dream, and realise their full potential.

Long live the struggle against child labour!

Long live the struggle against exploitation and imperialism!

Forward to socialism and genuine human emancipation!

Issued by the Communist Party of Swaziland