Climate change is creating conditions that fuel child labour, child trafficking and forced labour, the Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi told delegates at a special sitting of the World of Work Summit, organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. Satyarthi spoke of an “ecological emergency that requires immediate attention,” and warned that the loss of livelihoods and migration to urban areas that follows both natural disasters and changes in weather patterns can lead directly to increased child trafficking.
He cited the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal and the Kosi floods in Bihar, India, in 2008, as places where he had seen these conditions. He called on governments to adopt a child-friendly approach towards disaster management. Satyarthi told delegates that while the numbers in child labour had fallen—to about 168 million—child trafficking and slavery was not decreasing. “We cannot ignore this,” he said. “We have to respond.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
