Today there are 218 million child workers in the world, aged between 5 and 17 years old.
More than half of them (around 126 million) carry out dangerous work and 8.5 million are trapped in the worst forms of illegal, degrading and dangerous work in conditions considered child slavery.
All children who suffer from slavery are considered an object by their “owners” who humiliate them, subject them to abuse, hire them out or sell them to another “owner”.
They are jobs that horribly destroy the childhood of millions of children around the world.
There are eight most common forms of child slavery:
- Child trafficking.
- Sexual exploitation with commercial purposes.
- Forced child labour due to indebtedness.
- Forced labour in mines.
- Forced labour in agriculture.
- Child soldiers.
- Forced child marriage.
- Domestic slavery (“indoor slaves”).
* Source: Save the Children. www.savethechildren.es