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The World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) comes just one month after a major Global Conference on Child Labour held in The Hague, Netherlands, the first event of its kind for more than 10 years. The World Day will provide an early opportunity for national and local activities to follow up on the momentum generated by the Global Conference, and to scale up the worldwide movement to tackle and eliminate child labour by 2016.

If some progress has been made in eliminating child labour globally, a lot still need to be done in the field of agriculture which concentrates about 60 percent of all child labourers. Indeed, the latest ILO estimates indicate that 129 million girls and boys, aged 5-17, are still working in this sector. They are everywhere, often invisible, in farming, fisheries and forestry, many of them working under hazardous conditions, often very long hours, in risky and strenuous labour.

How can FAO contribute to meeting the challenge of eliminating the worst forms of child labour in agriculture, where children comprise a third of the workforce? How can FAO participate in the worldwide movement to eliminate child labour by 2016?

FAO has been increasingly involved in fighting child labour in agriculture, participating in international conferences and initiating inter-divisional workshops and projects. In occasion of the WDACL, FAO will present its recent activities and achievements in this field. The challenge to incorporate child labour in the FAO’s daily work will be discussed together with FAO and ILO experts. Participants will also have the opportunity to watch the recent video “The road to 2016: towards the End of Child Labour” produced by ILO-IPEC.

The WDACL 2010 organized by FAO in collaboration with ILO will be celebrated in FAO Headquarters on the 11 June, in the Iran Room (B 016), from 11.00 am to 12.00 am.

For further information please contact Soline de Villard, Room B521

Go to: Child Labour in agriculture