Sixth Global Conference: Advancing solutions to end child labour in agriculture

The fight to end child labour took centre stage in Marrakech last February. Building on the 2022 Durban Call to Action  – which placed the elimination of child labour in agriculture as a top priority in the global agenda – the Sixth Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour convened governments, UN agencies, employers, workers, and civil society to assess progress and scale up solutions that have proven effective.

These solutions are anchored in food security, livelihoods, education, climate change-adaptation, social protection, rural development, decent work, and much more. In continuity with Durban, the Conference concluded with the adoption of the Marrakech Global Framework for Action Against Child Labour. 

With the 2025 deadline of SDG Target 8.7 – the UN commitment to eliminate child labour in all its forms –  now behind us, the international community faces a critical juncture in the fight against child labour. 

While the latest ILO–UNICEF Global Estimates on Child Labour indicate some renewed progress since 2020, current trends are far from sufficient to achieve elimination in the near term. Agriculture remains at the heart of the challenge: 61 percent of all child labour occurs in the agricultural sector, affecting millions of children across agrifood systems. Accelerated action is urgently needed, particularly in small-scale farms and poorest rural communities. 

To help advance this agenda, FAO organized a high-level event during the Sixth Global Conference, titled “ Upscaling impact on child labour in agriculture”. Discussions focused on policies and investment approaches to address child labour in agriculture, area-based initiatives delivering lasting change at community level, and innovative digital tools to strengthen risk assessments, targeting and prevention. 

Highlighting emerging innovations, Joost Kooijmans, Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank, said: 

"There are some exciting new practices and innovative approaches that we have seen at this event. One of them is the FAO DIGICHILD initiative, which pushes the boundaries on in-depth risk assessment of what child labour is, and I think that’s going to lead to more calibrated and effective approaches to child labour." 

Beyond formal presentations, the DIGICHILD platform was put into practice. In addition to being showcased at a dedicated booth, it featured in an interactive session where participants were invited to explore FAO's GIS-based child labour risk estimation index firsthand.

Co-organized by FAO and the World Bank, the session aimed to strengthen capacity to assess and prevent child labour in agricultural investment programmes. It underscored the importance of integrating child labour considerations into investment due diligence, design, safeguard systems, monitoring, and evaluation, while presenting practical tools to identify, assess, and mitigate risks. 

Esther Ofori Agyeman, Head of the Child Labour Unit at Ghana’s Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment, was among those actively engaging in the session and testing DIGICHILD firsthand. She commented on the challenge and potential solutions:

“Child labour is still persistent in the agriculture sector, and in order to deal with it, we need a lot of innovative financing mechanisms and solutions to tackle the issue. I think that innovative, particularly technological, advancements in the field can really help us reduce child labour in that sector.” 

Specific attention was given to fisheries and aquaculture, sectors where child labour remains prevalent. During the Conference, FAO and the ILO jointly organized a side event titled “Transforming fisheries and aquaculture: new tools to eliminate child labour.”

The session examined the management, economic, and socio-cultural drivers that perpetuate child labour in the sector, while highlighting practical solutions to address them. Discussions drew on the new ILO–FAO Policy Guidance on the Elimination of Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture, which provides governments and practitioners with concrete tools to strengthen prevention and response efforts. 

During the event, speakers emphasized that effective action must begin with better data and targeted strategies. As Roy L. Buenafe, Regional Director at the Philippines’ Department of Labour and Employment, noted: “Our main priority for the international community to end child labour in fisheries and aquaculture is that we have to know where these areas are in terms of finding children in child labour, and then develop good strategies that give greater emphasis to the rights of children.” 

At the three-day Conference, many more events took place, taking into account developments since the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour. The Marrakech gathering highlighted concrete strategies to turn pledges into action. Governments adopted on a “ Global Framework for Action against Child Labour”, which lays out specific priorities to guide governments, employers, workers, and civil society in accelerating progress towards the achievement of SDG 8.7. Agriculture was flagged as a key priority, given that the majority of child labour occurs in this sector and recognizing the important role of the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture (IPCCLA). 

The Framework sets out clear commitments, including universal ratification and implementation of ILO Convention No. 138, which requires countries to set a legal minimum working age, and ILO Convention No. 182, which calls for the immediate elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including hazardous work for anyone under 18. The document further emphasizes the importance of comprehensive multi-sectoral policies, expanded social protection, improved access to quality education, gender-responsive interventions, social dialogue, and the involvement of children in shaping policies. 

The Framework also strengthens accountability by promoting improved monitoring of progress towards SDG Target 8.7, supported by enhanced data collection and knowledge-sharing, including via the ILO Child Labour Observatory. The outcome document further recognizes FAO as a key partner in tracking selected SDG 8.7 indicators. Reflecting on the outcomes of the Conference, Babafemi Oyewole, CEO of the Pan African Farmers Organisation, emphasized the central role of poverty reduction and education: 

“What we have been discussing at this conference is that one of the key drivers of child labour is poverty, and because of that we need to give free education to children, at least from primary school. When children are educated, they fight for their right not to go to work at an early age." 

As the conference concluded, one message stood out clearly: ending child labour by 2030 will require more than renewed commitments on paper. It demands coordinated action across sectors, sustained investment in innovation and social protection, stronger monitoring systems to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive, free from labour.