One out of six children in the world today is involved in child labour, doing work that is damaging to his or her mental, physical and emotional development.

• Every year 22 000 children die in work related accidents
• 73 million working children are less than 10 years old
• 40-50% of those in bonded labour are children
• The largest number of working children are in the Asia-Pacific region
• Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest proportion of working children; 69 million - nearly one third of children aged 14 and under
• Most children work in the informal sector (e.g. in homes or on the streets) without any legal protection
•  69% work in agriculture, commercial hunting and fishing or forestry
•  9% work in manufacturing
•  8% in wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels
•  7% in community, social and personal service, such as domestic work.
• June 12th is the World Day Against Child Labour.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights treaty signed by all but two of the world's countries. 

In Article 32(1) it says:

"States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."

References: International Labour Organisation Facts on Child Labour,  www.ilo.org/childlabour; Unicef http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/child_labour.pdf