“Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth who care for and protect our people,” Nelson Mandela, 3 June 1995.

We commemorate this year’s World Day against Child Labour, three months after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, which poses real risks to the global efforts in eradicating child labour.

Now more than ever before, we must protect children in Africa from child labour!

Globally about 152 million children between 5 and 17 years are victims of child labour.

73 million of them are involved in hazardous child labour, which is work that places their health, safety and development at considerable risk.

The good news is that child labour has decreased globally by nearly 94 million (40 percent) since year 2000.

However, that does not apply to Africa.

Progress in the fight against child labour seems to have slowed down. With the equivalent of 72 million in child labour, Africa has the highest prevalence in both absolute numbers and percentage.

Now, the COVID 19 crisis has increased economic insecurity, disrupted supply chains, and seriously slowed down manufacturing.

Approximately 85 percent of employment in Africa is in the informal economy.

With the significant loss of income by parents, absence of even basic social protection and increasing poverty, many could resort to child labour.

Some studies suggest that a one-percentage point rise in poverty can lead to at least a 0.7 per cent increase in child labour.

In “normal” situations, effective action against child labour must address a full range of vulnerabilities that children face and requires the implementation of policies and programmes, which address its root causes and result in sustainable solutions.

During these challenging times, the ILO, its constituents and partners will help to build back better, including giving special attention to the gender dimension.

Our development cooperation support in Africa pushes for more accelerated action in supply chains, innovation and knowledge sharing to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.

Most ILO programmes implemented in African countries, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, are now taking accelerated action on protecting the health, jobs and incomes of workers.

These interventions include a focus on more comprehensive social protection, while at the same time ensuring continued education for children.

The ILO is also expediting action to strengthen the capacity of government, including labour inspection and law enforcement, as well as organizations of workers and employers.

All this work requires partnerships and scaling up. In this regard, we welcome the adoption of the African Union Ten Year Continental Action Plan on Child Labour, by African Heads of States in February 2020.

The ILO is proud to be associated with this.

It is important to remember that SDG target 8.7 calls on member States, constituents and other relevant stakeholders to work collectively to eliminate child labour by 2025.

The clock is ticking! There is a sense of urgency!! We only have 5 years to deliver this global result! It definitely can’t be business as usual!!!

The Target can be achieved! Indeed, the target must be achieved for some of the most vulnerable in the world!! Those we cannot afford to leave behind!

Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, Assistant Director-General and Regional Director ILO Regional Office for Africa