Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

ILO, UNICEF: Social Problems Threaten 1.5 Children Worldwide


Wed 18 May 2022 | 03:28 PM
Ahmed Moamar

A joint report issued today, Wednesday, in Geneva, by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund ( UNICEF), called for closing the social protection coverage gap for about 1.5 billion children around the world who are still not supported by family or child cash benefits, in order to reduce child labor.

The report, which is based on a number of studies conducted since 2010, said that helping families adapt to economic or health shocks reduces child labor and facilitates education.

The report indicated that very little progress has been made in ensuring that all children enjoy social protection, as the number of children between 0 and 14 years who do not receive any cash benefits for the family or children is about 73.6%, or about 1.5 billion children, warning at the same time that If policymakers do not act decisively, the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflict, rising poverty, and climate change will only increase the prevalence of child labor.

The report warns that more than 160 million children worldwide - 1 in 10 children between the ages of 5 and 17 - are still involved in child labor and that the number of child laborers could rise by 8.9 million by the end of 2022, due to the high rates of poverty.