Now is the time to move from commitments to action!

In September 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted by consensus the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a global commitment to address the remaining challenges left by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on decent work includes target 8.7, which seeks to "take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern forms of slavery and human trafficking and ensure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and, by 2025, to end child labour in all its forms".

Why is eliminating child labour crucial to achieving sustainable development?

Achieving many of the goals set out in the 2030 Agenda will depend on success in reducing child labour, as progress related to improving education, poverty reduction, equality or healthy lives and well-being is severely hampered by the premature engagement of children and adolescents in child labour, especially when they are engaged in hazardous activities or are victims of crime.

Focusing action on families with children and adolescents at risk or in situations of child labour will guarantee progress in other related goals, as it will lead to a generation that is better educated, healthier, with better work skills, less likely to fall into poverty and probably much more aware and committed to caring for the planet.