World Day against Child Labour

Joe Lynch
Seamus Courtney Cumann
Cork Institute of Technology

Unbeknown to most people I'm sure, the 12th of June marks the 'World Day Against Child Labour', an international day of action launched by the ILO in 2002 to highlight the huge child labour problem that exists right across the globe.


215 million children are thought to be engaged in forced labour worldwide with approximately half believed to be forced into the sex industry, involved in armed conflict or engaging in debt bondage. There are thought to be in excess of 80 million child labourers in India alone.

In western society we have a tendency to adopt an ostrich effect when it comes to the mistreatment of our brethren in the third world; that if we cant see it - it isn't there.

In truth however, as the main beneficiaries of child labour in undeveloped countries, we have examples to find everywhere; the Nokia phone in your pocket, the Cadburys dairy milk you had for lunch, the Penneys t-shirt you've on, the Nike runners you just took off and the Apple iPod your charging (among countless other products) have all been stained with the sweat and tears of exploited children in the pursuit of private profit.

As a socialist youth organisation we stand in solidarity with all young people who face exploitation at the hands of capitalist greed and that solidarity extends far beyond our own shores - child labour must end now!