Editing Child labour (section)

==Elimination==
[[File:Breaker boys. Smallest is Angelo Ross. Hughestown Borough Coal Co. Pittston, Pa. - NARA - 523384.jpg|thumb|Child labour in a coal mine, United States, {{Circa|1912}}. Photograph by [[Lewis Hine]].]]
[[File:HN99~Worker 7xKidsWork.jpg|thumb|Different forms of child labour in [[Honduras]], 1999]]

Concerns have often been raised over the buying public's moral complicity in purchasing products assembled or otherwise manufactured in [[developing countries]] with child labour. However, others have raised concerns that [[boycott]]ing products manufactured through child labour may force these children to turn to more dangerous or strenuous professions, such as prostitution or agriculture. For example, a [[UNICEF]] study found that after the [[Child Labor Deterrence Act]] was introduced in the US, an estimated 50,000 children were dismissed from their garment industry jobs in [[Bangladesh]], leaving many to resort to jobs such as "stone-crushing, street hustling, and prostitution", jobs that are "more hazardous and exploitative than garment production". The study suggests that boycotts are "blunt instruments with long-term consequences, that can actually harm rather than help the children involved."<ref name="unicef"/>

According to [[Milton Friedman]], before the Industrial Revolution virtually all children worked in agriculture.<ref name="Schultz2010">{{cite book|first=Robert A. |last=Schultz|title=Information Technology and the Ethics of Globalization: Transnational Issues and Implications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Fk7pHWGERoC|year=2010|publisher=IGI Global|isbn=978-1-60566-923-6 |quote=Some authors such as conservative Nobel economist Milton Friedman claim that child labour actually decreased during the industrial revolution. He argues that before the industrial revolution almost all children were working in agriculture(...)}}</ref> During the Industrial Revolution many of these children moved from farm work to factory work. Over time, as real wages rose, parents became able to afford to send their children to school instead of work and as a result child labour declined, both before and after legislation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cunningham | first1 = Hugh | year = 1990| title = The Employment and Unemployment of Children in England c.1680–1851 | journal = Past and Present | issue =  126| pages =  115–150| doi = 10.1093/past/126.1.115 }}</ref>

British historian and socialist [[E. P. Thompson]] in ''[[The Making of the English Working Class]]'' draws a qualitative distinction between child domestic work and participation in the wider (waged) labour market.<ref name="Thompson"/> Further, the usefulness of the experience of the industrial revolution in making predictions about current trends has been disputed. Social historian Hugh Cunningham, author of ''Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500'', notes that:

{{blockquote|Fifty years ago it might have been assumed that, just as child labour had declined in the developed world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so it would also, in a trickle-down fashion, in the rest of the world. Its failure to do that, and its re-emergence in the developed world, raise questions about its role in any economy, whether national or global.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cunningham |first1=Hugh |title=The decline of child labour: labour markets and family economies in Europe and North America since 1830 |journal=The Economic History Review |date=August 2000 |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=409–428 |doi=10.1111/1468-0289.00165 }}</ref>
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According to Thomas DeGregori, an economics professor at the [[University of Houston]], in an article published by the [[Cato Institute]], a [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] think-tank operating in Washington D.C., "it is clear that technological and economic change are vital ingredients in getting children out of the workplace and into schools. Then they can grow to become productive adults and live longer, healthier lives. However, in poor countries like Bangladesh, working children are essential for survival in many families, as they were in our own heritage until the late 19th century. So, while the struggle to end child labour is necessary, getting there often requires taking different routes—and, sadly, there are many political obstacles.<ref>{{cite web |last1=DeGregori |first1=Thomas R. |title=Child Labor or Child Prostitution? |url=https://www.cato.org/commentary/child-labor-or-child-prostitution |website=Cato Institute |language=en |date=8 October 2002 }}</ref>

The [[International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour]] (IPEC), founded in 1992, aims to eliminate child labour. It operates in 88 countries and is the largest program of its kind in the world.<ref name=ipec>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/ipec/programme/lang--en/|title=About the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) (IPEC)|website=www.ilo.org}}</ref> IPEC works with international and government agencies, NGOs, the media, and children and their families to end child labour and provide children with education and assistance.<ref name=ipec/>

From 2008 to 2013, the [[ILO]] operated a program through IPEC entitled "Combating Abusive Child Labour (CACL-II)". The project, funded by the [[European Union]], contributed to the [[Government of Pakistan]] by providing alternative opportunities for vocational training and education to children withdrawn from the worst forms of child labour.<ref name="Combating Abusive Child Labour II">{{cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/islamabad/whatwedo/projects/WCMS_143210/lang--en/index.htm|title=Combating Abusive Child Labour II|date=1 April 2008}}</ref>

Periodically, governments, employers' and workers' organisations have met in global conference to assess progress and remaining obstacles and to agree measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016: first in [[Oslo]] (1997), followed by: [[The Hague]] (2010); [[Brasília]], 8–10 October 2013;<ref>ILO, [http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/BrasiliaConference/lang--en/index.htm III Global Conference on Child Labour - Brasilia, 8–10 October 2013]</ref> [[Buenos Aires]], 14–16 November 2017;<ref>ILO, [http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/BuenosAiresConference/lang--it/index.htm IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour, Buenos Aires, 14-16 November 2017], accessed 17 June 2017</ref> and most recently [[Durban]], South Africa, 15–20 May 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour |url=https://www.5thchildlabourconf.org/en/home |access-date=2022-06-07 |website=www.5thchildlabourconf.org |language=en}}</ref>

Between 2000 and 2012, progress was made against child labour but the elimination of its worst forms was not accomplished.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013 |title=Marking progress against child labour |url=https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf |access-date=November 25, 2022 |publisher=International Labour Organization }}</ref>
Under the [[Sustainable Development Goals]] (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, UN Member States, employers' and workers' organisations, and civil society organisations are required to work together to eliminate child labour by 2025, forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking by 2030. Thus, the ILO established Alliance 8.7 as a global partnership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/BuenosAiresConference/lang--en/index.htm|title = IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour, Buenos Aires, 14-16 November 2017 (IPEC)| date=28 January 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/sdg-2030/goal-8/target-8-7/WCMS_803310/lang--en/index.htm|title = Digital Information Systems for collaborative work to end child labour, forced labour and human trafficking|date = 16 June 2021}}</ref>

In January 2021, the ILO published the Child Labour Global Estimates 2020 in collaboration with UNICEF.<ref name="ilo.org">{{Cite web |title=Child Labour {{!}} Global Estimates 2020, Trends and the Road Forward |url=https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@ipec/documents/publication/wcms_797515.pdf |access-date=November 25, 2022 |publisher=International Labour Organization and United Nations Children's Fund}}</ref> According to the report child labour decreased by 38% from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_766351/lang--en/index.htm | title=2021: International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour | date=15 January 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://endchildlabour2021.org/ |title=Home - International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour |publisher=Endchildlabour2021.org |date= |accessdate=2022-02-11}}</ref> Due to [[COVID-19 pandemic]] the number of children in child labour increased by 9 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/child-labour-rises-160-million-first-increase-two-decades |title=Child labour rises to 160 million – first increase in two decades |publisher=Unicef.org |date= |accessdate=2022-02-11}}</ref>