world day against child labor; to eliminate harmful child labor practices.

Tomorrow we observe the UN World Day Against Child Labor, underscoring the importance of efforts to eliminate harmful child labor practices. According to Human Rights Watch, the pandemic has pushed even more children into exploitative and dangerous work — reversing gains made in previous years against such practices.

The numbers are alarming: the UN estimates that, globally, 152 million children perform work detrimental to their welfare and development; of those, 73 million work under hazardous conditions. I believe as a global community, we must take action to combat these abuses.

We can begin by raising awareness about the severity of the problem. Companies must ensure that they don’t engage in labor that deprives children of their childhood, either directly or indirectly. Additionally, organizations should consider participating in relevant local initiatives, as we do in markets such as Argentina, where Randstad sponsors assistance centers to help prevent the use of child labor during the tobacco harvest season. 

On this UN World Day Against Child Labor, please take a moment to consider how you can help and read about relevant Randstad local efforts here.