Conducts research and collects data on the global history of labour, workers, and labour relations

Child Labour

12 June 2002

12 June, World Day against Child Labour, was launched by ILO in 2002. Nowadays, some 215 million children between 5 and 17 years old are working on a daily basis instead of attending school. Child's Labour Global Past 1650-2000, a publication in IISH series International and Comparative History (2011) provides a long-term historical perspective, in covering the importance of children's work in pre-industrial and industrial societies, both in colonial and non- or post-colonial settings. Research on the varying historical experiences over the world can not only enlighten us about the specific function of child labour, but also about its causes.