This year’s World Day Against Child Labor, established by the International Labor Organization (ILO, a UN agency), will be on June 12. ILO estimates that up to 120 million children between 5 and 14 years of age are subjected to child labor. UNICEF separately estimates that nearly one in six children around the world are impacted. While many children do work to help their families, it becomes unacceptable when children are too young, or are abused or exploited, when instead they should be in school. That’s why this year ILO’s focus will be on advocating for quality education, setting of minimum employment ages and fair access to education around the world. Currently, CBIS works with a number of companies on the issue of child labor, including Macy’s on the issue of child labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan and Campbell’s regarding child labor in the palm oil sector.
