12 June marks the international day against child labour aiming at awareness and encouragement of action to stop child labour. The children along the world experience violation of their rights like the adults. But, in contrast to adults, the violation

Press release
11 June 2011
Prishtina
THE INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
12 June marks the international day against child labour aiming at awareness and encouragement of action to stop child labour.
The children along the world experience violation of their rights like the adults. But, in contrast to adults, the violations of their rights are more sensitive, because they are in a vulnerable and defenceless position.
Everywhere in the world children carry out hard and harmful labour. They work in agriculture, industry, including mines, construction or other professions and services, which seriously harm their development and impact in their physical, spiritual, emotional and intellectual development. The child labour presents one of the worst forms of exploitation and ill-treatment in the world.
ILO estimated that around 120 million children of the age 5-14 (from the total of 250 million children who work in developed countries) work full time and other 130 million work half-time. Around 61 % of children that work live in Asia, 32 % in Africa and 7 % in Latin America. The number of children working in Europe is rising. In this aspect, Kosovo is not exclusion. Kosovo is facing a very worrying problem of engagement of children in different kinds of labour, but there are no complete data on the number of children involved in the child labour in Kosovo.
Based on the ILO-IPEC data, in Kosovo, the children are mainly recruited to do the following jobs: selling on the streets, dangerous jobs in agriculture and forestry, excavation work and the exploitation of the natural resources, trafficking in children for labour and sexual exploitation, as well as using the children for unlawful activities.
Aiming at the improvement of the situation regarding child labour, the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo together with other relevant partners continued undertaking activities to prevent and eliminate child labour, as well as monitoring of child labour. But, given the difficult socio-economic situation in the country, the child labour remains one of the biggest social and institutional challenges.
Despite the difficult situation, we appeal on the state institutions, especially on the Government of Kosovo to adopt the strategy and action plan for prevention and elimination of all dangerous forms of child labour in Kosovo as soon as possible, as well as to begin the consequent and adequate implementation of the strategy and action plan aiming at prevention and elimination of child labour and protection of their health and welfare in order to provide to them a normal and decent life.
Information Office of OIK