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COVID-19 and Child Labour in Agrifood Systems - GCP/GLO/1010/GER

Year of publication 2023

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Synopsis (short abstract) Child labour endangers the health and education of children and represents an obstacle to sustainable agricultural development and food security. Child labourers are likely to remain poor, perpetuating the cycle of poverty and hunger, and, in turn, hindering agricultural and rural development. Over recent decades, progress has been made , in particular in the sectors of industry and services. However, this progress has been significantly threatened by the COVID 19 crisis, particularly in the agriculture sector, which remained the one sector to have seen an increase in child labour . At their release, ILO UNICEF 2020 global estimates on child labour indicated that, without mitigation measures, the number of children in child labour could rise by the end of 2022 to 168.9 million. Although most child labour is found in the agriculture sector, the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on child labour in agrifood systems had yet to be adequately explored. It was therefore critical to document more precisely the characteristics and dynamics of the impact of the pandemic on child labour per region, with attention to the different subsectors of agriculture. The objective of the project was thus to inform future actions to end child labour in agrifood systems, assessing the similarities of the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic with other crises.

Language English

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