EU and US proceed to grapple with little one labor – DW – 06/11/2025 | EUROtoday

Child labor stays a world scourge. Although there was vital progress in decreasing it since 2000, the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide conflicts have pushed hundreds of thousands of households into poverty and threatened to halt developments.

However, the newest UNICEF and International Labour Organization ILO) report on the subject notes a decline in contrast with the final report 4 years in the past, with 138 million concerned in little one labor in 2025, down from 160 million.

“The findings of our report offer hope and show that progress is possible,” mentioned ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo, in a press launch. “But we must not be blindsided by the fact that we still have a long way to go before we achieve our goal of eliminating child labor.”

What constitutes little one labor?

Nina Mast, an analyst with the Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, informed DW that little one labor is exploitative or oppressive labor by a minor or “any work that is excessive in the sense that it interferes with a child’s education or health or well-being.”

Harmful little one labor is usually related to the world’s poorest international locations. According to Claudia Cappa, senior adviser for statistics and monitoring at UNICEF, sub-Saharan Africa is house to two-thirds of all youngsters in little one labor.

However, she cautioned that it’s also a difficulty for higher-income elements of the world, such because the European Union and the United States.

“While child labor is more common in low-income countries, it still exists in high-income ones,” she informed DW. “Often, it’s hidden in agriculture, informal work, or within marginalized communities. Poverty, inequality, and exclusion make certain groups of children vulnerable, no matter where they live.”

US sees a rise

Nina Mast argues little one labor breaches aren’t nearly unpaid or hazardous work but additionally about situations resembling hours labored or any “excessive or exploitative work that interferes with education.”

Her major focus is on the US the place breaches of the nation’s Fair Labor Standards Act — the primary employee safety laws within the nation — have elevated because the pandemic.

According to the US Department of Labor, the variety of youngsters discovered employed in violation of federal little one labor legal guidelines elevated 31% between 2019 and 2024.

Mast believes that improve in violations is said to ramped up enforcement measures from the US Department of Labor.

“I think it’s difficult to disentangle the real increase in violations with the increased enforcement that is simply finding more violations. But it is the case that the more we look, the more we find,” she mentioned.

“I think that we should consider this a crisis that has not been resolved in terms of the recent increase in violations,” she added, stating that the Trump administration has introduced plans to weaken varied labor safety legal guidelines.

She says the everyday violations within the US contain minors working too late or for too lengthy, or instances the place minors are employed utilizing gear that’s prohibited for his or her age or doing jobs that they shouldn’t be doing based mostly on their age.

Another main downside, she added, was the agriculture trade, the place youngsters as younger as ten are typically employed in dangerous work.

“A problem that we haven’t addressed in the US is the fact that the standards are much lower in agriculture,” mentioned Mast. “Agriculture is the deadliest industry for children in terms of the fatality rate. That’s an issue that remains unaddressed.”

Also a European downside

According to the International Labour Organization, round 71% of all little one laborers are in agriculture. That can be a significant a part of the issue in Europe, in response to Marco Dubbelt. He is a director with Global March, a community of commerce unions and civil society organizations devoted to the elimination of kid labor, slavery and trafficking.

He says there have been current violations in Albania, Romania and within the fruit and vegetable sector in Italy. “It doesn’t hit you like a child working in the mines in Congo,” he informed DW. “But it’s very dangerous work. The children work with pesticides, work under enormous heat stress. It’s really unhealthy for the child.”

UNICEF’s Claudia Cappa factors out that prevalence of kid labor within the EU is low in comparison with international ranges, however says “it exists in more hidden forms, including in agriculture, informal services, and among marginalized communities.”

Both Cappa and Dubbelt warning that dependable information in higher-income international locations is tough to come back by and that there’s a lack of reporting.

Back in 2021, the EU signed as much as a world initiative to designate 2025 because the yr to finish little one labor in all kinds. While that objective has not been achieved, the EU does have comparatively sturdy laws geared toward defending youngsters and minors from dangerous labor practises.

The EU Directive on the Protection of Young People at Work requires member states to ban the employment of kids below 15 or these nonetheless in full-time training, with some exceptions. It additionally units out varied obligations for employers as regards to younger staff’ well being and security.

Stephen Blight, UNICEF’s senior adviser on little one safety, believes the EU’s introduction of its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which got here into drive in July 2024, was an necessary step in direction of tackling the issue. He informed DW the directive has “enormous potential to contribute to the respect and protection of children’s rights, if fully and properly implemented.”

However, he expresses considerations over the EU Commission’s so-called Omnibus proposal, which goals to simplify and scale back sure rules and reporting necessities for companies throughout the bloc.

Blight argues that the proposal might weaken progress in relation to EU provide chains, pointing to the truth that one of many plans is to restrict the extent to which EU corporations should perform due diligence on suppliers. “It risks overlooking the deeper parts of supply chains, where the worst forms of child labor often occur.”

Marco Dubbelt agrees that one of many largest challenges for the EU in relation to little one labor pertains to its provide chains from outdoors the bloc.

He thinks the issue is larger than many estimate however emphasizes once more {that a} lack of dependable information is a significant problem, and that extra analysis and reporting is required.

“What I’ve seen is that a lot of children are connected with supply chains, but it’s sometimes very difficult to make that connection because so much of the work is off the grid, and under the table.”

Edited by: Uwe Hessler