Child Labor Factbox
Child labor continues to be a serious problem worldwide. The UAE-UNICEF program to eradicate the employment of boys as camel jockeys has been widely praised because it eliminated demand for child labor by creating a technological alternative. All camel racing in the UAE is now conducted with robot jockeys. Such solutions are rare, however, and the problem remains in many parts of the world.
Child Labor at a Glance
- Most working children live in areas where people earn an average of less than $2 per day
- One child in three works in Africa and one in five in Latin America
- Children as young as 9 can legally pick berries in some U.S. states
- Although it is important to remove the demand for items produced by child laborers, only about 5% of them produce goods for export.
- The number of children working in Latin America has been halved in this decade by programs providing small stipends to families
- The U.N. has made ending child labor a priority, and programs such as Rugmark are helping stamp out the use of children making Oriental rugs
ILO, United Nations, www.rugmark.org
