The story so far: “There are 160 million children waiting for your action. How long will they have to wait?” asked Kinsu Kumar, a survivor of child labour and rights advocate, while speaking at a panel organised on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour. Mr. Kumar started working at the age of six, sometimes as a car cleaner, and other times as a domestic help, to contribute to the income of his family, who lived in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur.
A similar story plays out for one in 10 children globally. Child labour — a form of modern slavery — includes any work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that harms their physical or mental development, per the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition. The practice includes, and is not limited to, trafficking, sexual exploitation, debt bondage, and exploitation in armed conflicts. 12% of those in forced labour are possibly children, ILO noted.
Child trafficking manifests in the form of domestic labour, forced child labour across industries, and illegal activities such as begging, organ trade and commercial sex purposes. Several reports since the 2020 lockdown have noted that the pandemic created a second crisis of child trafficking, with children being pushed into a vortex of “despair, disease and death.” Estimates show that children account for one in every three detected victims of trafficking worldwide; this rises to one in two in low-income countries. India, meanwhile, has pledged to eliminate child labour by 2025.
