In addition, Africa is one of the regions most affected by crisis linked to conflict and disasters as well as climate change. In Africa, four out of five children in child labour live in rural areas and work in agriculture, a sector where workers are often functionally dependent on the unpaid work of children. These include: the lack of access to free quality education high levels of poverty and vulnerability of households limited decent work opportunities for parents and young people as well as very high levels of informality and inequalities. It is critical to tackle the root causes of child labour in our continent. If we don’t act now, we should expect 105 million children will be in child labour in Africa in 2025, which will worsen in the following years. This is particularly true for Africa – a young continent with a fast-growing population. So, what should be done? The recently concluded 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour that took place in South Africa reiterated the need to focus on prevention. In Africa, we have 92 million reasons to be optimistic about ending child labour. You need to have good reasons to be optimistic”. You don’t have to be a dreamer to be optimistic. Is there hope to end this situation? Absolutely Yes! As the ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said “Optimism relies on political will. Urgent measures to end child labour should be viewed as an investment for the future. Ending child labour is key to sustainable development. Children trapped in child labour today are the unskilled labour force of tomorrow. Eliminating child labour worldwide will not be achieved without a breakthrough here. With 92 million girls and boys in child labour - one in five children - Africa is the most-affected region in the world. On the contrary, ending child labour is key to sustainable development.” says ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, Cynthia Samuel Olonjuwon. “We shouldn’t wait for development to end child labour. (Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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