Child labour remains one of the world’s most persistent human rights failures despite decades of economic growth and international commitments. According to latest estimates by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF, 138 million children are engaged in labour globally, including 54 million in hazardous work that exposes them to dangerous machinery, toxic chemicals and unsafe environments. The failure to meet the United Nations target of eliminating child labour by 2025 underscores the inadequacy of existing interventions. Agriculture accounts for 61% of child labour worldwide, followed by services and industry, embedding exploitation deep within global supply chains that produce food, clothing and consumer goods. Contemporary crises have further intensified this burden. Armed conflicts in Iran, Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine have displaced millions of children, disrupted schooling, and weakened protection systems, leaving children vulnerable to labour, trafficking and exploitation. Periodic climate shocks, economic instability and forced migration have similarly driven families into distress, accentuating the threat of child labour. Poverty is thus not the only cause of child labour: the phenomenon is a reflection of failures of governance on multiple fronts, unequal development and inadequate social protection.
India illustrates the inherent contradiction with particular force. Despite constitutional safeguards under Articles 21A and 24, protective legislation such as the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, and commitments under Sustainable Development Goals, the country continues to host one of the world’s largest populations of child labourers with over 10 million working children. The persistence of legal loopholes, especially the exemption for employment for family enterprises, combined with poverty, debt bondage, migration and school exclusion, has allowed such exploitation to persist. The Supreme Court’s recent concern over children employed in orchestras, dance troupes and spas reflects the evolving forms of child labour in an expanding economy. India’s challenge is not the absence of laws but their weak enforcement and fragmented welfare systems. Eliminating child labour requires universal access to quality education, targeted social security, robust labour inspection mechanisms, rehabilitation programmes for rescued children and stricter accountability across supply chains. A nation’s claims of economic growth lose credibility when millions of children remain deprived of education and dignity.