The Solidarity Center supports trade unions around the world in their efforts to eliminate child labor.
For more than 200 million children, today is a workday, not a school day. Children as young as five years old are part of the global workforce. In factories and in fields, children work up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Matches, rugs, soccer balls, leather goods, paper cups, toys, shoes, fireworks — all of these products are made by tiny hands.
Child labor is one of the worst forms of exploitation. Child workers are deprived of schooling, forced to work in dangerous situations, beaten and sexually abused, and crippled by work-related illnesses and injuries. Children are sold or indentured to employers who pay impoverished families for the use of their children. An ensuing cycle of poverty pushes adults from their jobs and drives down wages worldwide.
Although most countries have laws against child labor, and it is banned by officially recognized conventions of the United Nations and the International Labor Organization, child labor exists everywhere in the world. Child labor is most common in countries where there are no unions and where other worker rights violations, such as pay inequity, discrimination, and lack of health and safety measures, are widespread. The Solidarity Center and our partners around the world are exposing the problem of child labor, pushing for policies that prepare young people for the workplace, and promoting more effective national action plans to curb this intolerable abuse of worker and human rights. Thanks to Solidarity Center programs, more kids are staying in school — while their parents earn decent wages so their children don't have to work.
U.S. Teachers' Union Urges Ban on Chocolate Produced by Child Labor. The American Federation of Teachers launched a campaign to highlight the fact that cocoa harvested by children is used in chocolate candy.
Giving Girls a Chance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Solidarity Center is helping eradicate child labor by removing girls from mines in the Congo and enrolling them in vocational training courses.
Fighting Child Trafficking in Kenya. The Solidarity Center and its partners in Kenya are fighting child trafficking and forced labor on agricultural plantations, in the fishing industry, and in domestic work.
Advocating for Children in Pakistan. A longtime Solidarity Center partner in Pakistan believes that solving the problems of millions of children requires a comprehensive approach directed at policymakers and the public alike.
Celebrating Ten Years of "My Child" in Brazil. In Brazil, the Solidarity Center and its union partner provide enrichment activities that keep at-risk teens off the street, encourage them to stay in school, and prepare them for job opportunities.
Working Together to End Child Labor in Uzbekistan. The Solidarity Center is part of a coalition of concerned organizations working together with major brands, retailers, and industry associations to end state-sponsored child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton fields.
Year-End Gift from U.S. Students Sends 65 Congolese Children to School. Thanks to a generous gift from students in Westchester County, NY, 65 children in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be able to attend school for a full year.
Child Labor in Kenya. In 2008, the Solidarity Center, in partnership with the Kenyan Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU), is launching a new child labor/child trafficking program.
Film
- The Solidarity Center helped research and promote Stolen Childhoods, a groundbreaking feature documentary on global child labor.
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