World Day Against Child Labour will this year be marked by thousands of events in scores of countries around the world on 12 June with a focus on the need to improve access of children to education as the right response to child labour.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that some 165 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are currently involved in child labour, of these, 74 million are exposed to hazardous work. On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for External Relations and Neighbourhood Policy, has said: “I am pleased that this year the day is dedicated to raise awareness of the importance of education in fighting child labour. I am convinced that improving access of all children to education is the right response to this evil. Fight against child labour is for me a core commitment in our human rights agenda and I will continue to raise it in my political dialogue with other countries."

Therefore, the ILO launched the first World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 as a way to highlight the plight of child workers. The day, which is annually observed on 12th June, aims at serveing as a catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labour, reflected in the huge number of ratifications of ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour and ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for employment.

Child labour is prohibited in all EU Member States by European legislation, itself inspired by Convention No. 138. In addition, all Member States have ratified Convention No. 182. The EU works with the ILO to promote ratification of the eight ILO core labour standards at a global level and has established a number of structured dialogues on employment and social affairs with countries such as China and India.

Most recently, the European Commission, the ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and Pakistan’s government signed an agreement to implement a project to combat child labour in Pakistan. The Commission's contribution (€4.75 million) will help Pakistan's government and IPEC to tackle child labour in the formal and informal economies, for example domestic work, car repair workshops or recycling of waste. The project, due run until 2013, aims to take children out of the worst forms of work immediately and rehabilitate them. It will also involve prevention work.