World Day Against Child Labour.

Yesterday, June 12th was World Day Against Child Labour.

It is estimated that around one hundred fifty million children are involved in child labour worldwide, with almost 1 in every 10 children in Asia and the Pacific between the ages of 5 and 17 caught up in child labour. That is equivalent to the entire population of Turkey.

World Day Against Child Labor

Not all children are forced into child labour. Some will go to work to help support their family’s income. Others, however, are abducted by strangers and put into forced labour, or even trafficked and exploited in the sex trade.
United Nations declarations specifically guarantee the rights of a child to be protected from economic exploitation, but vague laws, or sometimes a complete lack of legislation, mean that millions of children find themselves at work when they should be at school – often in hazardous conditions.
In South East Asia, there are an estimated 20 million or more children on the streets, who are at risk of being involved in the worst forms of labour. For example:
  • In Thailand, almost 1 out of every 8 children are engaged in child labour. This includes agricultural work, industrial labour and sexual exploitation – such as the production of pornography.
  • In Bangladesh, an estimated 18 percent of working children ages 5–14 are involved in a variety of hazardous occupations, such as making cigarettes by hand, construction, ship breaking, tanneries, and the garment industry.
  • It is estimated that 4,500 women and children from Bangladesh are trafficked to Pakistan each year.

What does it take to end child slavery? Your prayers will make a big difference – we serve a mighty God who answers big prayers like this one: freedom for the 150 million children in child labour.

  • Pray for children caught up in child labour to be rescued, reunited and accepted back into their families.
  • Pray for the physical needs of the children. Most do not get enough to eat, and the physical labour they are forced to do can cripple their bodies. Pray for the Lord to provide for them and protect them from harm.
  • Pray for the girls and boys forced to work in the sex trade. Ask the Lord to bring the brothel owners’ and customers’ abuses into the light, and for the love of Jesus to permeate those dark places.
  • Pray for the governments of Asian and other countries to be proactive and serious in their efforts to end the exploitation of children.

Isaiah 56 vs 1: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.”

Source: http://www.gfa.org.nz/children/child-labour/, http://www.aljazeera.com

 

 

 

 

 

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