Child slavery facts
1 in 4 of all victims of trafficking are children involved in forced labor. As many as 1.2 million children are being trafficked every year. The children who are trafficked often work as slaves on farms, mines and at industrial factories. Worldwide, up to 10 million children are trapped in modern forms of child slavery.
“It was like a prison, we were locked inside. We worked from 5 a.m. until midnight making carpets, and we slept among the machines”
- Kumar, child laborer, India
Stress; exhaustion; sunburn; too much heat; backache; long working hours; lack of good drinking water; falling trees; tripping on ropes; wounds from machetes; using bare hands to apply fertilizer.
- Responses from girls in Ghana when asked about working conditions in agriculture.
The price of a child
Sold over and over again
Boys and girls can be sold many times, and in different ways, for profit. The children often work long hours, and under very poor conditions. It is also not uncommon that they are exposed to toxic chemicals, dangerous machinery and extreme temperatures.
It’s deadly
The large majority of child slaves work seven days a week including holidays, and they typically do not get paid. 22,000 children are killed at work every year - more than 2 children every hour.
Can child slavery be stopped?
The UN 2030 Sustainable Development targets include ending all forms of child labour by 2025 and all forms of modern day slavery and human trafficking by 2030. Things are going in the right direction but with current trends these noble goals will stay exactly that - good intentions that the children in slavery cannot use for much.
Possible time left
To ending worst forms of child labor
