GFA World’s Work Against Child Labor

Child labor remains a pervasive issue worldwide, despite the perception that it is outdated, particularly in countries like the United States and other developed nations. Globally, a staggering 160 million children are currently engaged in labor today.[1] Child labor, as defined by the International Labour Organization, involves work that deprives children of their rightful childhood, stunts their potential and dignity, and poses risks to their physical and mental development.[2]

It is disheartening to note that almost half of the children trapped in child labor today, approximately 79 million, are involved in hazardous occupations. While this problem predominantly affects 15–17-year-olds, it is alarming that a significant portion, roughly a quarter, involves children under the age of 12.[3] These distressing statistics underscore the substantial number of children who are unable to attend school regularly or who have dropped out entirely due to their labor obligations.

The occurrence of children being forced into labor is most frequent in several Asian and African countries. In Pakistan, nearly 13 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 are laborers, and about three-quarters of those kids are involved in the agricultural sector. Nigeria, suffering from widespread poverty, has more than 15 million child laborers under the age of 14 working as domestic help, shoe shiners, miners, construction workers, car washers, etc.[4] One country in South Asia has more than 33 million children working in mines, farms, or garment factories. Even as that country develops, the number of child workers has grown, especially in cities where the kids move for work. The south Asian country of Bangladesh is among the worst offenders for child workers, though their informal employment is hard to keep track of and there are laws in place against it.[5]

These statistics are already very troubling, but these estimates are likely lower than actual figures as they only report children living in family homes. Orphaned children or kids living on the streets, some of the most susceptible to becoming laborers, go undetected and uncounted by censuses.[6]

Is child labor illegal? Technically, yes. The United Nations is taking strides to end the practice for good, but it is not going down without a fight. Target 8.7 in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals states that countries need to take “immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour … and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.”[7]

According to this goal, child labor around the world should be completely eradicated in just a few years. However, enforcing this endeavor and local laws against child labor takes a lot of effort and manpower that many countries just don’t have. To meet such expansive goals, companies that rely on child workers need to stop exploiting them and find alternative means of production, but that takes time and money that some businesses are unwilling to spend. For example, leading chocolate company Godiva is not fully on board with taking an active role in reducing the use of child laborers, so it is lagging behind other companies in the effort.[8] And Godiva is not the only company with such hesitancy to change their production methods.


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