Child labor declining but progress uneven and ’slowing down,’ finds UN report

Child labor drops but not fast enough: UN report

GENEVA — Child labor has declined, but progress toward eradicating the practice is uneven and risks grinding to a halt, the U.N. labor agency said Saturday.

A global survey based on figures from more than 50 countries shows there were 215 million child laborers around the world in 2008, the last year for which figures are available.

This is a drop of more than 3 percent from the estimated 222 million child laborers in 2004, said the International Labor Organization.

The number of girls and children under 15 who are classed as child laborers fell sharpest, while the number of boys and youths aged 15-17 increased during the four-year period.

The Geneva-based ILO urged governments to do more to reduce child labor, in particular if they want to achieve a target of eliminating its worst forms by 2016.

Some 115 million children were engaged in hazardous work in 2008, compared with 128 million four years earlier. The hazards include extended exposure to heat, cold or dangerous substances, and working more than 43 hours a week.

The director of ILO’s child labor program, Constance Thomas, said many obvious examples of hazardous work have been successfully targeted.

“Low-hanging fruit has been taken,” she told reporters in Geneva. “The less visible forms … are harder to eradicate.”

The biggest progress has been made in Asia and Latin America, while in sub-Saharan Africa the situation has worsened, according to the survey. One in four children in sub-Saharan Africa are now classified as child laborers.

About 60 percent of child laborers work in agriculture and many aren’t paid. Their work helps provide food for their families but deprives them of the chance to get an education that would help them escape poverty, ILO said.

Frank Hagemann, who compiled the statistics, warned that the economic downturn in recent years could increase the number of child laborers as families try to make ends meet.

“The cost for households to keep children in school is rising,” he said.

ILO released the report ahead of a two-day conference on child labor starting Monday in The Hague, Netherlands.