The International Labour Organisation has said 138 million children are in child labour, describing the development as “simply unacceptable.”

The DG of ILO, Gilbert Houngbo, gave the figure on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the 6th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour.

The conference, hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco, in collaboration with UN agency, ILO, brought together governments, employers, civil society, international organisations, private sector representatives, academia and young people to accelerate action toward elimination of child labour.

Mr Houngbo noted that 61 per cent of child labour occurred in agriculture, noting that girls outnumbered boys, a trend that carried serious consequences for girls’ education and future life chances.

According to him, it is not just a moral failure but also an economic one with lasting effect on productivity, growth and social cohesion.

The ILO boss pointed out that all regions had seen progress, which was encouraging but more still had to be done.

He said, “For example, Asia and the Pacific achieved a 43 per cent reduction, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded an 11 per cent decline and Sub-Saharan Africa reduced child labour by 10 per cent.

“We must admit that we failed to meet the 2025 deadline under the SDG, target 8.7 which requires that we simply end child labour.”

Mr Houngbo said the fight against child labour would only be won or lost through prevention, especially in rural areas and among the youngest children, and prevention starts with education.

He added that 80 million additional primary school places would be needed by 2050, stressing that investment in free, mandatory quality education and decent working conditions for teachers was critical.

Mr Houngbo listed rural development, investment in infrastructure, and school feeding programmes as other critical components of preventing the menace.

He added, “Supporting formalisation of small enterprises and farms is another critical component of this prevention because only when workers receive a fair and living income for their work will family no longer depend on the children’s labour to survive. A safe and healthy working environment which does not jeopardise workers life and health is essential.”

He said this was why promoting fundamental principles and right at work remained essential for elimination of child labour.

“Progress is strongest when stakeholders act together. Multilateral cooperation is not an abstract idea. It is a practical necessity when challenges cross borders and generation,” he said.

Also, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammad, said the unmet SDG target 8.7 showed how much more must be done to deliver on the promise of Agenda 2030, in spite of recorded progress.

She said ending child labour must be embedded in broader development strategies that tackled root causes and prevented families from facing impossible choices.

Mrs Mohammed said this required investment in quality education, skills development, inclusive growth and labour market policies that supported transitions from school to decent work.

The deputy-secretary general recalled that at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, the international community confronted the scale of child labour directly.

According to her, the Doha Political Declaration reaffirmed commitments to address structural drivers of child labour, including poverty, inequality and the lack of decent work.

She stressed enforcement, saying child labour must be illegal everywhere and those exploiting children, including private sector actors, must be held accountable.

“Businesses must know whether child labour exists in their supply chains, and they must act to eliminate it,” Mrs Mohammed noted.

(NAN)