On this year’s World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June, the International Trade Union Confederation-ITUC has called on the global community to act with renewed urgency as the world is dangerously off-track to meet the 2025 deadline under Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.
New ILO-UNICEF global estimates reveal that nearly 138 million children are still trapped in child labour – 54 million of them in hazardous work. Behind every number is a child denied their right to education, safety and a future.
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ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said: “Child labour is a symptom of deeper injustice. It reflects a decent work crisis. When adults are underpaid, unprotected, or unemployed, their children pay the price. Poverty wages, informal work, and lack of social protection force families into impossible choices.
“The international community has committed under SDG 8.7 to end child labour by 2025, and yet we are not on track. This is not a failure of resources. Ending child labour is a test of justice, of accountability, and of political will. It cannot wait. We must act now, with laws, with budgets, with union power to end this injustice and give every child a future.”
The ITUC demands urgent action from governments and employers:
- Guarantee living wages and decent work for all.
We welcome the new ILO–ITUC–IOE Global Programme on Living Wages. No family should be forced to choose between hunger and sending a child to work. - Deliver universal social protection for all.
Child benefits, income support and healthcare are proven tools to prevent child labour. Governments must fund this, especially in low-income and rural communities. - Enforce ILO Conventions 138 and 182.
Child labour laws must be backed by adequate labour inspection and penalties for violations, and workplace union access. The recruitment of children in armed conflict must be fully prohibited with support for their reintegration into society. - Invest in quality, public education and just transition.
Free, quality public education systems must reach all children, especially girls, migrant children, and those in remote or conflict-affected areas. Employers must support just transition strategies that formalise work, uphold labour rights and reinforce communities, not exploit them.
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As we move closer to the UN World Social Summit in Doha this November, governments must make solid commitment to ensure that every child is in school, every worker has a living wage, and no child is left behind in crisis.
The 6th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Morocco next year must deliver a roadmap with real accountability from governments, corporations and international institutions to deliver structural change through binding rules, fair supply chains, and enforcement of labour standards.
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ITUC supports initiative like Alliance 8.7 to strengthen coordination and knowledge sharing among countries. Such international cooperation has to amplify the voice of local actors in civil society, survivor-led movements, trade unions and communities themselves. We need more investment into south-south collaboration to co-create solutions and to continue expansion of Child Labour Free Zones (CLFZs) and community-based monitoring programs.
Watch here the high-level event organized at the 113th International Labour Conference to mark the World Day Against Child Labour 2025 with the launch of the ILO-UNICEF joint report on the lates global estimates of child labour.
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