Child Labor during the time of COVID

According to UN bodies, ILO, and UNICEF the child labor has swelled for the first time in two decades. The number in child labor stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 an increase of 8.4 million in 4 years. The hike began before the pandemic hit and marks a dramatic reversal of a downward trend that had seen child labor numbers shrink by 91 million between 2000-2016. Nearly 1/10 children globally were stuck in child labor with Sub-Saharan Africa the worst affected. If the latest projections of poverty increase due to the pandemic, another 9 million children will be pushed into child labor by the end of 2022 as per the report. If social protection coverage slips from the current levels because of austerity measures and other factors the number of children falling into child labor can go up to additional 46 million. Boys were significantly more likely to be affected accounting for 97 of the 160 million children toiling in labor at the start of 2020.Gender gap narrows by half when household chores performed for at least 21 hours per week are counted. There is also significant increase in the children between the ages of 5-17 years who are doing hazardous work. This includes toiling in dangerous industries like mining or with heavy machinery and working for more than 43 hours a week which makes schooling next to impossible. Unless urgent actions are taken to help ballooning number of families plunging into poverty, nearly 50 million more children could be forced into child labor over the next two years.

Mohd Bilal Khan is a student pursuing HMTT from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by: Yusuf Aziz