#TheClockisTicking for action against child labour
We’re running out of time. In 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to end child labour by 2025 according to the Sustainable Development Goals. However, every day 160 million children are still working, the first increase in decades.
The clock is ticking…
With only two years left it’s about time for world leaders to amplify their efforts to protect children from child labour.
There is no excuse for not taking urgent action on the worldwide agreement on ending child labour. Children have the right to grow up safely and reach their full potential. #TheClockisTicking
The problem & the solution
160 million children still work in the most dangerous situations every day, the first increase in decades. Children work in illegal mines, are forced to do housework, beg in the streets and are sexually exploited, at the risk of their own lives.
#TheClockisTicking with only three years to go. It is time for world leaders to step up their efforts to protect children from child labour.
Child labour: in the mines of India and Madagascar
About ten thousand children do not go to school. They have to work, because otherwise their family has nothing to eat. The children leave for the mines in the morning with an empty stomach. There they have to dig up stones to eat mica. It is one of the worst forms of child labour: hard, unhealthy and dangerous work.
Children run serious health risks in the mines. The dust that is released when they bite attacks their lungs. Lifting the stones leads to serious back problems. Many accidents happen, resulting in broken bones and injuries from fragments that fall apart. The children often have little or no protection. The mica traders themselves do not take any responsibility for anything. They violate children’s rights.
Approach:
With positive change, we want to improve not only the situation in Madagascar, but also that of other countries negatively affected by the mica trade. We achieve this through social interventions at a local level, mapping the supply chain and encouraging member companies to take responsibility. In this way we create a fair, safe and sustainable chain together. Finally, we inform the government about the urgency for new legislation.
Child labour: begging on the streets in East Africa
In Kampala, East Africa, there are criminal organizations that use begging children as if they were employees of their company. These criminal organizations are very shrewd and know exactly where the poorest villages are to recruit children. Often father and mother are not aware of the dangers: child trafficking, abuse and sexual exploitation.
Approach
Terre des Hommes wants to put a stop to the growing number of children on the streets in Kampala. We do this together with our local partner organization Dwelling Places.
After we have taken children off the street, we provide shelter and (psychosocial) care. We help children return home, we provide education and invest in poverty reduction by also helping the parents or carers of children to generate a better income.
Child labour: sexual exploitation
Two million children worldwide are victims of sexual exploitation. Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Nepal are known to be places where child abuse is increasing due to cheaper flights and internet access. However, the perpetrators still too often go unpunished.
Approach
Terre des Hommes is committed to protecting vulnerable children and raising awareness and building knowledge and capacities of the formal institutions responsible for child protection, criminal investigation and law enforcement.
In an alliance called ‘Down to Zero’, Terre des Hommes, Plan International Netherlands, Defense for Children – ECPAT, Free a Girl and ICCO Cooperation are working together to eradicate commercial sexual exploitation in twelve countries in Asia and Latin America. Down to Zero is carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Forced domestic labour
Children in Africa and Asia often fall into the hands of human traffickers, who promise them a bright future. But the education or the world job in the big city turns out to be forced work as a house slave. From early in the morning until late at night, heavy household chores await them, as well as caring for a host of children. This exploitation takes place invisibly behind closed doors. Often the house slaves are mistreated or sexually abused by their bosses.
Approach
Terre des Hommes focuses on combating child trafficking. Children forced into exploitation under false pretenses are helped to return home and school. We also make the problem more visible in order to create more awareness. The film about the house slave Amani sketches the oppressive reality of a house slave in the big city in Kenya.
Have a minute?
Small actions with a big difference. Act now!
Sign the petition
Take action now and sign our petition. Together we initiate a change that will end child labour!
Download the Social media Toolkit
Share the message and show that you are against child labour.
Support childlabour-free companies
Support companies that have joined the Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI)
Share this campaign with others
Share this campaign by clicking on the share icons above the page or follow our conversations on social media using the hashtag #TheClockisTicking and share the campaign messages with others.
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Support our work across the world
Get the facts
For millions of children, COVID-19 meant hunger, poverty and the end of educational opportunities. The global impact of the pandemic on children and their families is being felt in many areas of life. This is confirmed in a new Child Labour Report 2022 by Terre des Hommes International Federation, ahead of the World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour.
The report examines how the living conditions of children have changed as a result of COVID-19 and what measures are necessary for a just and social recovery from those affected.
Learn more about child labour
Millions of children are forced to do dirty and dangerous work. They work in mines, factories, as house slaves and in brothels. Even when they are very young. This is bad for their health and development. For example, they don’t go to school. They cannot escape poverty in this way. We fight against extreme forms of child labour, worldwide. Because children have a right to protection. Right to go to school. To build a better future. That is why we offer education, information and assistance to poor families.
Have a bit longer?
Have your say in our work and help us be there for children at risk – become a member today.
Become a volunteer
Put your time, energy and skills towards a worthy cause. Meet enthusiastic likeminded people and enjoy new experiences. Become a volunteer at Terre des Hommes! Volunteering at Terre des Hommes is a two-way street. You share however much time you can, when you can. We provide you professional training, a pleasant environment and work that fulfils you. Sign up now.
Join a youth rights club
Asia
- Philippines
Peer Support Group (PSG)
princessbejo@bidlisiwfoundation.org / gerald.ygay@clb.org.ph - Cambodia
Together to protect and promote children’s rights
https://www.facebook.com/WATCH2018
Future of Children: +855 12 977 686 - Nepal
Red Ant
kritikachaulagain600@gmail.com - India
AYUDHA (Anantha Youth Development & Helping Association)
ayudha26.2021@gmail.com / https://www.facebook.com/ayudha.atp
Africa
- Kwale County, Msambweni sub-county- Gazi
Gazi Primary School Child Rights Club
Mr. Frederick Mulwa CRC Male Patron: 0716730878 - Kilifi County, Malindi Subcounty
St. Andrews Prmary School Child Rights Club
Madam Euster Nyando: 0722722731
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to be a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. The SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and is intended to be achieved by 2030.
SDG 8.7 – […] end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.
