Sweden, Norway and the International Labour Organization Co-Sponsor Event

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, September 21, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On September 22, Fair Share to End Child Labour: Survivors & Leaders on Social Protection will bring together survivors of child labour, heads of government, Nobel Laureates, international leaders and youth activists from around the world during the week of the UN General Assembly to demand urgent action for the world's most marginalised children in order to reverse a child rights catastrophe.

Today, more than half of the world’s poorest citizens are children – and they are entering poverty and child labour at an unprecedented rate. Even before the pandemic, the number of children trapped in child labour increased for the first time in two decades. Shockingly, the biggest increase came amongst children aged 5-11 years old. According to the International Labour Organization and UNICEF, the total number of child labourers had grown to 160 million by the start of 2020, and the worst-case scenario predictions show this could increase to more than 206 million by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic. The pandemic has already forced an additional 150 million children into multidimensional poverty - bringing the total number of children living with this injustice to 1.2 billion.

This increase, being reported during the UN International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, places at significant risk the world’s promise to eliminate child labour by 2025, as stated in UN SDG 8.7, a goal that is directly linked to more than two thirds of all SDGs and therefore puts the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals at risk. Fair Share to End Child Labour: Survivors and Leaders on Social Protection’ aims to put the world’s most marginalised children centre stage during the UN General Assembly and demand urgent action to deliver their rights to freedom and education.

“This is a child rights catastrophe and the world has a responsibility to the tens of thousands of children being forced into poverty and child labour every day,” stated Kailash Satyarthi, 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate and founder of Laureates and Leaders for Children. “All nations as well as the international community must act now to end this, and invest to create a free and safe world for our children.”

Building on the impact of the 2020 Fair Share for Children Summit, this event is hosted by Laureates and Leaders for Children and co-sponsored by the Government of Sweden, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the International Labour Organization. Speakers include Stefan Löfven, Prime Minister of Sweden; Dag-Inge Ulstein, Minister for International Development, Norway; Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization; African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira El Fadil; U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D, CT); German Permanent State Secretary for Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs Björn Böhning; ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow; Nobel Laureates Kailash Satyarthi and José Ramos Horta; and child labour survivor-advocates from India and South Sudan and youth activists.

NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information and to register please visit www.laureatesandleaders.org/unga2021.

Laureates and Leaders for Children
Laureates and Leaders for Children is a movement of visionary leaders across diverse fields of expertise and influence, committed to working together to inspire the international community to globalise compassion for the world’s most vulnerable children. Initially convened by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, Laureates and Leaders for Children was formally established in 2016 following commitments and actions taken for the benefit of marginalised children by the Nobel Laureate Class of 2014. Laureates and Leaders for Children has grown its network of Nobel Laureates and world leaders to become an internationally influential platform for the rights of children to be free, safe, and educated, everywhere. Laureates and Leaders for Children is an initiative of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation US. More information can be found at www.laureatesandleaders.org.

Anjali Kochar
Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation US
+1 917-969-2108
anjali@satyarthi.org

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