ABSTRACT
Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Since 2000, a more child-centred development agenda was linked to the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) focus on the provision of ‘decent work’ for youth, universal primary education and the global anti-child labour programme (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour – IPEC), while NGOs had brought child traff icking and forced labour to the attention of the public. Increased awareness has escalated child labour as a priority issue for global institutions concerned with human rights, equity and civil society, with the ILO declaring child labour as an urgent human rights challenge. Recent concerns over the effectiveness of international child labour legislation largely stems from three interrelated global factors: the economic crisis, the dismal employment prospects of youth and adolescents, and the rise in exploitative and hazardous work as a result of the deregulation of formal labour markets.
