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Child labour endemic around the globe

Lack of education and high rates of poverty drive persistent child labour around the world.

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A 15-year-old boy sits on the truck ready to start another day of work in the sugar cane plantations in Chhoyk village, Cambodia. He dropped out of school when he was 8 years old to work. [Thomas Cristofoletti/Ruom]
By Ruom Collective
Published On 11 Jun 2015

Launched by International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2002, the World Day Against Child Labour brings attention to a global issue that, according to the ILO, involves more than 120 million children between the ages of five and 14 around the world.

Despite being a vibrant economic zone, Asia Pacific is the region with the largest incidents of child labour, with a reported 18.8 percent of the 650 million working children around the world.

Children around the region are found to be working in a broad range of economic sectors, from garment factories in Bangladesh, to sugarcane plantations in Cambodia, and fishing boats in the Philippines. Other sectors include seafood processing, entertainment, mining, scavenging and domestic labour.

Many factors influence the prevalence of child labour, with poverty being the root cause of children having to work. Multiple humanitarian organisations identify education as the most important component in reducing the rampant incidents of child labour. Africa and Asia account for an estimated 90 percent of total child employment around the world.

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Child labour/ DO NOT USE/ RESTRICTED
At just 9 years old, the little boy helps his parents in counting and making sugar cane stacks in Chhoyk village, Cambodia. He is from a village about 2 hours drive away from the plantations, where he lives with his two other brothers. His family decided to work at the plantations because they were unable to cultivate their own lands due to droughts. [Thomas Cristofoletti/Ruom]
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Ranlyn works clearing land for her 'adopted family' in Omlaing, Cambodia. She works for them in exchange for her father's debt. [Nicolas Axelrod/Ruom]
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A boy shapes pieces of rubber using a hammer and chisel near the Sadarghat ferry terminal in Dhaka, Bangladesh. An estimated 5 million children between the ages of 5 and 15 work in Bangladesh. [Luc Forsyth/Ruom]
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The grease-covered hands of a boy working in an engine repair shop near the Sadarghat ferry terminal in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Since these children start working at such a young age, they are unable to complete any formal education, and therefore get trapped in a life of low-skilled labour from which most will never escape. [Luc Forsyth/Ruom]
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A young boy works in a small metal smelting shop in the old city in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The nature of their work is often dangerous, working in small factories or cottage industry shops with very little in the way of safety precautions. [Luc Forsyth/Ruom]
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A sewing shop in Sadarghat, Dhaka where many children are employed to operate the machines in the extensive textile industry. The pay for young children is usually less than $1 a day, but this money is essential to the survival of their families and quitting is not an option. [Luc Forsyth/Ruom]
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A boy takes a break from his job as a metal smelter in Dhaka's Sadarghat district. [Luc Forsyth/Ruom]
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A young Kun Khmer boxer waits for his boxing match to begin. Child boxers in Cambodia fight to help support their families, and see boxing as a means out of poverty. [Hannah Reyes/Ruom]
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A young Kun Khmer boxer is fanned with a towel in between rounds at a boxing match. [Hannah Reyes/Ruom]
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Young Filipino boys who begin fishing from a young age aim to help alleviate their families' poverty. The Philippines is comprised of more than 7,000 islands, and fishing plays a significant part in the economy. [Hannah Reyes/Ruom]
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A young fisherman naps after a day of fishing, where the catch was not enough to compensate for the gas used to run the boat in the morning. [Hannah Reyes/Ruom]
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A young fisherman on a boat in Bicol, Philippines, heading out for the night's catch. [Hannah Reyes/Ruom]