CARE Releases Summary and Key Findings of New Child Labor Report

Helene D. Gayle MD, MPH
President and CEO, CARE (photo ©2007 Derreck Blanks)

ATLANTA (June 12, 2007) - Today, as the global community honors World Day Against Child Labor, I am pleased to announce the release of the Executive Summary and Key Findings and Recommendations from CAUTION — Children at Work: Galvanizing Communities to End Child Labor. This year the world community focuses on the elimination of child labor in agriculture. Worldwide, agriculture is the sector where the largest percentage of working children is found - nearly 70 percent. CARE's report discusses many of the root causes of child labor. The report also takes a closer look at the lives of the 132 million girls and boys who often work from sun up to sun down on farms and plantations. It presents key findings about how we can prevent the worst forms of child labor by focusing on children working in rural areas, especially the agricultural sector.

CAUTION — Children at Work: Galvanizing Communities to End Child Labor is a giant leap forward for CARE because it clearly illustrates the tools and techniques that are successfully reducing the prevalence of child labor in the communities where we work. Poverty forces children to pick up tools instead of pencils, in turn, their lack of education and low-paying jobs keep their families, communities and nations economically depressed. This cycle is heartbreaking, but not hopeless. As detailed in the report, simple choices about the products we buy, our social commitments in developing countries and where we donate funds, all have the ability to make a real difference for those at risk or engaged in child labor. Click on the links below to read the report's Executive Summary, Key Findings and Recommendations and CARE's Organizational Policy Regarding Working Children and Hazardous Child Labor. Also please look for the full version on July 12th.

CAUTION — Children at Work: Executive Summary (PDF, 751Kb)

CAUTION — Children at Work: Key Findings & Recommendations (PDF, 765Kb)

CARE's Organizational Policy Regarding Working Children and Hazardous Child Labor (PDF, 39Kb)

Together, we can reinvigorate hope for those on the margins of society.