The fight continues on World Day Against Child Labour

Many people have some notion that the horrors of child labour can only be found in the pages of some Dickensian 19th century tale of past exploitation and human woe.

But today, June 12th, the World Day Against Child Labour, it is important to note that this is not at all true.

Globally child labour still robs tens of millions of children of their childhood, education and their future.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, according to data released on June 11, 2025, estimate that nearly 138 million children were engaged in child labour in 2024, including around 54 million in hazardous work likely to jeopardize their health, safety, or development.

The world, obviously, has missed its target of eliminating child labour by 2025.

According to the data, agriculture remains the largest sector for child labour, accounting for 61 per cent of all cases, followed by services (27 per cent), like domestic work and selling goods in markets, and industry (13 per cent), including mining and manufacturing.

The World Federation of Trade Unions has released the following statement about this day:

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers in 134 countries, marks this year’s World Day Against Child Labor with determination. The class-oriented international trade union movement denounces once more the continuing tragedy of child labor—a barbaric manifestation of capitalist exploitation that robs millions of children of their future.

On this day, it is important not to forget the children around the world who are being robbed of their childhoods as a result of imperialist interventions and wars. Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression in Gaza, more than 16,000 children have lost their lives, while hundreds of thousands will carry the fear, trauma, and physical and emotional wounds of war for the rest of their lives.

Today, over 160 million children are still trapped in labor, many subjected to hazardous, degrading, and exhausting conditions. These children are denied their right to education, to leisure, to a healthy life, and to a dignified childhood. This is not an unfortunate accident or the result of isolated failures—it is the direct outcome of the exploitative nature of capitalism, which thrives on inequality, poverty, and imperialist domination.

Child labor worldwide has risen to alarming levels in recent years. Between 2016 and 2024—for the first time in over two decades—the number of working children globally has increased. The unprecedented economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the deepening capitalist crisis and wars, continues to push children into ever more exploitative and dangerous labor conditions.

Meanwhile, the same forces that liberalize markets, dismantle public services, and suppress workers’ rights are the ones that drive families into despair and force children into labor. Multinational corporations, complicit governments, and international institutions may present themselves as champions of children’s rights, but in reality, they advance policies that entrench exploitation and strip working people of their dignity and protections.

For the WFTU, it is clear: the eradication of child labor can never be achieved under a system that sees human beings as tools for profit. What is needed is a radical transformation—one that guarantees free, quality public education for all children, ensures decent wages and secure employment for all adults, and strengthens public services and social protection systems. No parent should ever be forced to choose between hunger and sending their child to work.

We reaffirm our militant commitment to this struggle, and we stand in solidarity with workers across the globe who resist exploitation and fight for their rights. The battle against child labor is inseparable from the broader struggle against capitalist injustice and imperialist aggression. It is part of our vision for a society where the needs of the people—not the profits of the few—come first.