Effects of Covid-19 on Child Labor & Human Rights

The economic downturn brought by COVID-19 sharply increased global poverty For the first time in decades, global progress against child labor has stalled and reversed direction Currently, the estimate is that 160 million children toil in child labor, up by 8 million since 2016 – accounting for almost one in ten children worldwide About 79 million children work in conditions likely to harm their health, safety or morals. In Sub-Saharan Africa, there are more children in child labor than the rest of the world combined. Without action, an additional 8 9 million children could end up in child labor by 2022, due to rising poverty driven by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest ILO-UNICEF report

It is expected that millions of additional children will be forced into child labor as a result of the increase in unemployment levels and school dropouts during the Covid-19 Pandemic According to Unicef, although social protection programs are urgently needed to battle the pandemic social and economic impact, “it seems inevitable that, in the medium term, most countries will experience serious fiscal crises”, that will demand the government’s full attention and resources to be addressed. This particularly affects poor countries with a revenue basis depending disproportionately on international trade, foreign direct investment or foreign aid

This is why social protection programs that directly address poverty are critical to offset the worst impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on child labor There is a great need to fund and intensify social protection responses, including non-contributory cash transfers as they help lower child labor and help households weather economic distress Other successful examples include reductions in school fees that have played a role in encouraging school attendance. Evidence from India shows that the negative impact of the economic shock was muted in areas where schooling was more affordable There is also evidence from Mexico and Senegal that child labor declines when school quality improves If school fees increase or school quality deteriorates, a further increase in child labor is certain.

Loss of income due to the pandemic drove up rates of extreme poverty

However, even before the pandemic, funding for other publicly provided goods like health, education, active labor market policies, and enforcement of regulations has been declining, and children are most severely affected In fact, according to Fair Share to End Child Labor, there are more child laborers in the world than all the children living in the US and Europe combined

These facts speak to the urgency of strengthening child rights protections globally. Investing in good quality education from the earliest ages, as well as access to social protection, is crucial to prevent and address child labor

Social Protection

Cash Transfers

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