With some 150 million children under 14 engaged in child labour worldwide, the UN Children’s Fund says that identifying the most vulnerable children requires new efforts and increased funding.

UNICEF made the call at the opening of the Global Child Labour Conference at The Hague. The conference brings together 80 governments, UN agencies, multinational companies and non-governmental organisations to highlight the reality that child labour is significantly undermining progress towards the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

UNICEF estimates that 150 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are engaged in child labour worldwide, which is both a cause and consequence of poverty, and compromises children's education and safety.

“To achieve long-term results for tomorrow's children, we must invest in creating new solutions today,” says UNICEF in a statement.

“These children have become invisible; trapped in the worst forms of child labour and need urgent help.

“Migrant children, orphans, trafficked children, and above all girls, are too frequently missing from current data sets and surveys which rely upon static household data. New methodologies and innovative data collection systems need to be developed to ensure that the violence and hazards faced by these invisible children become visible on policy agendas and are systemically addressed.”

The food, fuel and economic crises that have shaken the global order have had irreversible impact upon children's lives. Child labour - a key household buffer in some countries against economic shocks - has led to more children being propelled from school into the labour force earlier and in more hazardous areas than would normally occur.

Protecting children and young people from the adverse impacts of the multiple crises faced today will simultaneously address their vulnerability and benefit future social and economic development.

“There is a growing international consensus that an effective, coherent response to child labour requires a mix of decent work employment measures, child sensitive social protection systems and the extension of basic services to the most vulnerable.

“Child labour must be addressed as part of a package that improves a child's overall life, as many children are forced into labour by poverty or the death of a family breadwinner.”

UNICEF is calling on governments and donors to increase investment in accessible, quality education, support the establishment of social protection measures, generate sustainable livelihoods for families and, above all, create the conditions for a protective environment that covers all children.