Over eight million children around the world are in slavery. They are working as bonded labourers, recruited for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and other illegal activities and trafficked.

A further 111 million children under the age of 15 work in hazardous conditions from which they should immediately be withdrawn. They are deprived of education and all other children's rights.

On 20 November, the world marks the Universal Day of the Child, the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. All but two countries have signed this convention (with the exception of Somalia and the United States), but in many it is hardly implemented.

One of the fastest growing means by which children are enslaved today is trafficking. Girls as young as six are trafficked to work as maids in West Africa, young boys are abducted from their homes in South Asia and forced to be camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates and girls are trafficked and forced into prostitution in the United Kingdom.

Governments around the world need to demonstrate political will in protecting children. International law developed to protect children, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Labour Organization's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 need to be ratified and universally enforced. The key forces that lie at the root of this exploitation also need to be addressed, such as poverty and discrimination, if children are to be safe from slavery and work that is harmful to their health and well-being.

See child labour for further information