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Eradicating Child Labor: Ending Economic Exploitation of Children as an Objective of Sustainable Development

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Synonyms

Economic exploitation of children; Exploitative child work

Definitions

While there is no universally accepted definition of child labor, child labor is usually defined based on different international legal instruments as work performed by a child that is harmful to his or her physical and mental development by virtue of being physically, mentally, socially, or morally dangerous or harmful or that interferes with schooling by causing nonattendance, premature school leaving, or combination of school with heavy and long hours of work (ILO 2018a).

Child Labor in the Sustainable Development Agenda

Global estimates show that 152 million children are in child labor and 73 million children are engaged in hazardous work. Child labor prevalence rates vary considerably between different regions but are highest in Africa with 19.6%, followed by Asia and the Pacific with 7.4%. Fifty-eight percent of children in child labor are boys, while 42% are girls. Nearly half of all children in...

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Correspondence to Gamze Erdem Türkelli .

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Erdem Türkelli, G. (2019). Eradicating Child Labor: Ending Economic Exploitation of Children as an Objective of Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Decent Work and Economic Growth. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_3-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_3-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71058-7

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Eradicating Child Labor: Ending Economic Exploitation of Children as an Objective of Sustainable Development
    Published:
    08 May 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_3-2

  2. Original

    Eradicating Child Labor: Ending Economic Exploitation of Children as an Objective of Sustainable Development
    Published:
    14 March 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_3-1