How to stop children working

FEW SIGHTS are more pitiful than a child of three, hammer in hand, breaking big rocks into smaller ones to sell for pennies. Such scenes are considered so abhorrent in rich and poor countries alike that the convention of the International LabourOrganisation (ILO) which outlaws “the worst forms of child labour” (including soldiering, slavery and prostitution) last year became the first to be ratified by all 187 of its members.

Between 2000 and 2016 the number of children working in factories, on farms and down mines fell by almost 94m, to 152m. Yet in the four years to 2020 progress has reversed, with an extra 8m children working, and some 6.5m more doing dangerous jobs. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for all of the increase. The setback occurred before the covid-19 pandemic, but the ILO and Unicef, the UN children’s agency, reckon that the economic hit from the virus may push almost 9m more children into work by the end of next year. Many will not return to school after the temporary closures imposed in countries to curb transmission of the virus (see Middle East & Africa section).

This increase in misery has prompted calls for tougher enforcement of child-labour laws. Prosecutors in Brazil are suing Olam, a commodities firm, over allegations it...