Children should not fall into the trap of child labour post covid-19 outbreak: ILO

The International Labour Organisation has urged India to ensure children do not fall into the trap of child labour post the outbreak of Covid-19 which has led to significant decline in family incomes and disrupted school education.

Laying out a six-point roadmap for India to address the problem, Dagmar Walter, director, ILO said India needs to target poverty alleviation measures, bring about universal social security, come up with education related measures to ensure children go back to school, regulate laws and enforce them while ensuring there is social dialogue between all stakeholders.

“Covid-19 has resulted in stress for children and a potential income loss to families forcing children to help them earn livelihood. Consequently, children engaged in work may not return back to schools when they open up,” she said.


Walter was speaking at a webinar on World Day Against Child Labour, jointly organised by ILO, labour ministry and the VV Giri National Labour Institute on Friday

Agreeing that the Covid-19 crisis has the possibility of pushing children into child labour, union labour minister Santosh Gangwar said the government will work under a concrete national plan to ensure India eradicates child labour withing the given time. “Centre, states and society at large will have to work collectively to help eradicate child labour from the country,” he said.

The aim is to eliminate child labour by 2025.

India has ratified ILO conventions 138 & 182 following which India’s existing laws ensure that no child below 14 years of age is involved in any form of child labour, labour secretariat Heeralal Samariya assured during the webinar.

Globally, 152 million children are working as child labourers out of which 72 million are involved in hazardous jobs. These children are now at even greater risk of facing circumstances that are even more difficult and working longer hours, ILO-UNICEF said in its paper.