Boy harvesting rice, Indonesia Photo: © Sean Sprague - SpraguePhoto.com

Introduction to ICCLE
The International Center on Child Labor and Education (ICCLE) is an independent 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization working to mobilize worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the rights to be free from economic exploitation and to receive a free and meaningful education. ICCLE was incorporated in Washington, DC, in October 2000.

ICCLE also hosts the Northern Advocacy secretariat of the Global March Against Child Labor. ICCLE sets the agenda for the international advocacy and policy work of the Global March and builds domestic knowledge of child labor issues. ICCLE brings "developing country" experience in child labor and education to the United States.

ICCLE believes that the elimination of child labor is key to reducing poverty, achieving education for all, and building worldwide peace and security.

Statistics tell their own story
        Child Labor
        Poverty
        Education
What are the benefits of redirecting child laborers to school?
How does ICCLE get people in different inter-governmental agencies to "play better together"?
ICCLE logo (download)

Statistics tell their own story
Child Labor

• There are approximately 246 million children aged 5-17 in child labor worldwide. That is nearly the size of the U.S. population of 293,027,571.⁸³ About 186 million of these child laborers are below the age of 15. Strikingly, the majority of these, about 110 million, are less than 12 years old.⁸⁴
• 179 million children aged 5 to 17 (1 in every 8) are exposed to the worst forms of child labour.⁸⁵ Of these:
  • 8.4 million work in the unconditional worst forms of child labour, including forced and bonded labor (5.7 million), trafficking (1.2 million), armed conflict (0.3 million), prostitution and pornography (1.8 million) and illicit activities, including drug production and trafficking (0.6 million);
  • 171 million (69.5 percent) work in "hazardous" situations or conditions.⁸⁶ Of these, 111 million are under 15. A stunning 55 percent of child laborers below 12 years old are already in hazardous occupations.⁸⁷
• The largest number of child laborers aged 5-14 years (127.3 million) are in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa (48 million), and Latin America & the Caribbean (17.4 million). There are 13.4 million child workers in the Middle East and North Africa. Developed countries and transition countries have the lowest numbers of child laborers (about 2.4 million).⁸⁸
• The percent of children less than age 15 years who are working is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa (29 percent). No other region has such a high child work ratio. Almost 1 child in 3 below the age of 15 is economically active, or works, in Sub-Saharan Africa. The child work ratios in other major world regions are all below 20 percent. In Asia-Pacific the incidence is 19 percent.⁸⁹

Poverty

• More than a billion people worldwide live in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day.
• The numbers of poor people are greatest in South Asia, but the proportion of poor is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.⁹⁰

Education

• Worldwide, over 100 million children of primary-school age are still not enrolled in school. Huge numbers of them are child laborers. Most of them, 57 percent, are girls.⁹¹ The proportion of out-of-school girls was higher in South and West Asia (62 percent) and Arab States (60 percent) than in other regions.⁹²
• Another 150 million children who are enrolled in school will drop out before completing elementary school. - At least 100 million are girls.⁹³
• Forty percent of children who are enrolled in primary school in the least developed countries drop out.⁹⁴
• In developing countries, 1 child in 3 does not complete 5 years of schooling - the minimum required for basic literacy.⁹⁵ In the least developed countries, 40 percent of children who enroll in primary school drop out.⁹⁶
• Almost all (94 percent) of out-of-school children of primary-school age live in developing countries - mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa (40 percent) and South Asia (35 percent).⁹⁷ Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia together account for almost three quarters of unenrolled primary-school age children.

What are the benefits of redirecting child laborers to school?

• The elimination of child labor is critical to achieving at least half of the eight Millennium Development Goals (in addition to world peace and security):
  • Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
  • Universal completion of primary education
  • Promoting gender equality: Eliminating gender disparity in education
  • Combating HIV/AIDS
• Universal primary education (UPE) could save at least 7 million young people from contracting HIV over a decade.
• Globally, the economic benefits of eliminating child labor and replacing it with universal education exceed costs by a ratio of 6.7 to 1.
• Each extra year of universal schooling through age 14 results in an additional 11 percent of future earnings per year, yielding global benefits of just over $5 trillion.

How does ICCLE get people in different inter-governmental agencies to 'play better together'?
There is no doubt that children have something to teach the adults in global institutions about how to function as a team.

Youth are central to ICCLE's intervention strategy:

• Policy intervention to harmonize poverty reduction strategies and national action plans to eliminate child labor and to achieve Education for All.
• Building knowledge of global child labor issues by promoting youth leadership on global child labor issues and providing educators with the skills and resources needed to teach about child labor.

Young people in the United States have tremendous means to contribute to global solutions through their gifts of time, talent and treasures. Seventy million persons aged 5-22 years comprise 26% of the population of the United States. A shift of just 1% of young Americans' purchasing power to the developing world would equal $2 billion toward the needs of our friends overseas. That money, combined with the resources of local communities, could feed, educate, vaccinate, employ and house millions.

For additional information on the issue of child labor, ICCLE's activities, imminent special events, and more, please visit: www.knowchildlabor.org

ICCLE logo (download)

Media contact: Sudhanshu Joshi, Executive Director, at sjoshi@iccle.org or 202-258-8873

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⁸³ Central Intelligence Agency July 2004 estimate.
⁸⁴ Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labor, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, International Labor Organization, Geneva, April 2002, p. 19-20 and 22, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/others/globalest.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁸⁵ ILO Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/com-chic.htm: Internet accessed January 2005.
⁸⁶ Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labor, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, International Labor Organization, Geneva, April 2002, p. 23, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/others/globalest.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁸⁷ Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labor, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, International Labor Organization, Geneva, April 2002, p. 23, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/others/globalest.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁸⁸ Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labor, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, International Labor Organization, Geneva, April 2002, p. 16, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/others/globalest.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁸⁹ Every Child Counts: New Global Estimates on Child Labor, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, International Labor Organization, Geneva, April 2002, p. 16-17, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/others/globalest.pdf; Internet accessed February 2005.
⁹⁰ World Bank data, available from http://www.developmentgoals.org/Poverty.htm; Internet accessed March 2005.
⁹¹ 2005 EFA Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO, 2004, p. 94.
⁹² 2005 EFA Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO, 2004, p. 94.
⁹³ What Works in Girls' Education, Barbara Herz and Gene Sperling, Council on Foreign Relations, 2004, p. 4.
⁹⁴ Education for All Week, 19-25 April 2004, UNESCO, available from http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/
ev.php-URL_ID=28702&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html; Internet accessed march 2005.
⁹⁵ 2000 A Better World for All, updated 8 January 2002, available from http://www.paris21.org/betterworld/education.htm; Internet accessed March 2005.
⁹⁶ Education for All Week, 19-25 April 2004, UNESCO, available from http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/
ev.php-URL_ID=28702&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html; Internet accessed march 2005.
⁹⁷ World Bank data, available from http://www.developmentgoals.org/Education.htm; Internet accessed March 2005.
⁹⁸ 2005 EFA Global Monitoring Report, UNESCO, 2004, p. 94.
⁹⁹ http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/
ev.php-URL_ID=30875&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
¹⁰⁰ Investing in Every Child: An Economic Study of the Costs and Benefits of Eliminating Child Labor, International Labor Organization, 2004, p. 4, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/publ/download/2003_12_investingchild.pdf; Internet accessed March 2005.
¹⁰¹ Investing in Every Child: An Economic Study of the Costs and Benefits of Eliminating Child Labor, International Labor Organization, 2004, p. 12, available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/publ/download/2003_12_investingchild.pdf; Internet accessed March 2005.