GlobalChild Platform

1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
2. States Parties shall take legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to ensure the implementation of the present article. To this end, and having regard to the relevant provisions of other international instruments, States Parties shall in particular:

(a) Provide for a minimum age or minimum ages for admission to employment;

(b) Provide for appropriate regulation of the hours and conditions of employment;

(c) Provide for appropriate penalties or other sanctions to ensure the effective enforcement of the present article.

-UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The core attributes of Article 32 are:

• Protection from economic exploitation and harmful work
• Regulatory framework to provide protection
• Administrative, social and educational measures for protection
• Penalties and enforcement for effective protection

Each of these attributes can be measured in terms of structural or process implementation or in terms of outcomes achieved through implementation as outlined in the table below. Some indicators, for instance the structural ones, may be common to all attributes. Others are common to two or more attributes, while some indicators may be relevant to one attribute only. An attempt has been made to balance the use of objective and subjective data indicators as well as qualitative and quantitative ones.

These are some ideas that children from around the world shared with us during the Global Child Rights Dialogue (GCRD) project:

1. Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
   • Target 1.2 By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
     • SDG indicator 1.2.1 Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age.
   • Target 1.5 By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters.
2. Goal 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
   • Target 4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.
   • Target 4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
3. Goal 8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
   • Target 8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.
   • Target 8.7 Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.
     • SDG indicator 8.7.1 Proportion and number of children aged 5‑17 years engaged in child labour, by sex and age.
4. Goal 16 Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
   • Target 16.2 End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.

• Data from relevant inspectorates
• EMIS data sets (Education Management Information Systems)
• Government legislation, regulation and documentation
• ILO-UNICEF-The World Bank, UNDP data
• Ministry of labour 
• National Census data 
• National child labour household survey
• Primary research by National Human Rights Institutions for Children
• Primary research by universities and NGOs
• SDG data collection
• UNICEF MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys)

1. Swepston, L. (2012). Article 32: Protection from Economic Exploitation. In A. Alen, J. Vande Lanotte, E. Verhellen, F. Ang, E. Berghmans, & M. Verheyde (Eds.), A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Vol. 32, pp.14-17).Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill; Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
2. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (2007). Legislative History of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Vol. 2, pp. 693-708). New York, United States of America and Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/LegislativeHistorycrc2en.pdf

• Diallo, Y., Hagemann, F., Etienne, A., Gurbuzer, Y. & Mehran, F. (2010). Global child labour developments: Measuring trends from 2004 to 2008. International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Organization.
• International Labour Organization. (2017). Indicators for Child Labour. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/dw4sd/themes/child-labour/WCMS_560710/lang–en/index.htm
• O’Kane, C. et al. (2016). Time to talk Research Toolkit: Facilitator’s guide for organising consultations with children in support of the international campaign “It’s Time to Talk – Children’s Views on Children’s Work”. Duisburg, Germany: Kindernothilfe.
• United Nations Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) (2012). Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation (HR/PUB/12/5). Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Human_rights_indicators_en.pdf
• United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
• United Nations Children’s Fund. (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully rev. 3rd ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
• UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. Available from https://mics.unicef.org/

Child labour
There is no precise definition of child labour, as it is a term covering many diverse situations. Child labour can be divided into six categories: domestic, non-domestic, non-monetary, bonded labour, wage labour and marginal economic activity. Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive.

The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that:

• is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and
• interferes with their schooling by: depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, obliging them to leave school prematurely, or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work (UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, 2000).

Economic exploitation
Economic exploitation is a process of taking unjust advantage of a child for advantage or benefit. It covers situations of manipulation, misuse, abuse, victimization, oppression or ill-treatment.

Forced labour
“Forced labour can be understood as work that is performed involuntarily and under the menace of any penalty. It refers to situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as manipulated debt, retention of identity papers or threats of denunciation to immigration authorities” (International Labour Organization, n.d.).

According to the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) , forced or compulsory labour is: “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.”

Unpaid household services
“Unpaid household services, or household chores, refer to the production of domestic and personal services by a household member for consumption within their own household. Children might be involved in household activities while they attend school, while they are involved in employment, or while they perform both or neither of these additional activities. Household chores include caring for siblings, sick, infirm, disabled or elderly household members; cleaning and minor household repairs; cooking and serving meals; washing and ironing clothes; and transporting or accompanying family members to and from work and school” (International Labour Office, 2013).

Worst forms of child labour
“The worst forms of child labour comprises: (a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children” (International Labour Organization, 1999).