Thematic panel 5 - The central role of social protection in tackling child labour

Social protection and child labour are two important issues cutting across the spheres of decent work and human rights. Social protection has an important role in contributing to the prevention and elimination of child labour. It reduces vulnerabilities, empowers communities, ensuring that children attend, and remain in school and parents have the income to sustain their development and their education, without resorting to child labour to supplement household income. Overall, social protection helps alleviate poverty and economic insecurity that underlie child labour.

However, despite these measures, social protection is not sufficiently used as a means towards the elimination of child labour. Social protection coverage remains woefully low in many parts of the world. Children are particularly affected by the lack of social protection.With the first increase in the absolute number of child laborers in two decades, policy makers must introduce an integrated social protection system which includes child benefits and childcare services as well as provision of parental leave and access to healthcare, in addition to decent wages. To this end, ambitious investments into universal social protection systems are needed.

The event will consist of the launch of the ILO and UNICEF report on Social Protection followed by a panel discussion and a subsequent plenary session.

Social protection has an important role in contributing to the prevention and elimination of child labour. It helps alleviate poverty and economic insecurity that underlie child labour.