GENEVA, Switzerland – The world has marked the first rise in child labour in two decades and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more youngsters toward the same fate, the United Nations said Thursday.
In a joint report, the International Labour Organization and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said the number in child labour stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 — an increase of 8.4 million in four years.
The hike began before the pandemic hit and marks a dramatic reversal of a downward trend that had seen child labour numbers shrink by 94 million between year 2000 and 2016, it said.
Just as the Covid-19 crisis was beginning to pick up steam, near…
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