Scottish Catholic Observer

“Today the World Day Against Child Labour is being celebrated all over the world, with a reference in particular to the Exploitation of Children in domestic work: Listen, it is a deplorable phenomenon which is constantly increasing, especially in poor countries,” the Holy Father said. “There are millions of children, mostly girls, who are victims of this hidden form of exploitation that often involves abuse, mistreatment and discrimination. This is a real form of slavery.”

Pope Francis  emphasised during his speech in front of 60,000 people in St Peter’s Square that all children when growing up should be able to ‘play, study, pray and grow’ in a safe environment surrounded by love.

Statistics released today on World Day Against Child Labour by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) highlight just how many children are suffering due to child labour. According to the ILO, 10.5 million children worldwide are working as domestic workers in people’s homes in conditions that the ILO compared to slaves. The groups also revealed that that 6.5 million of these child labourers were aged between the ages of 5 and 14, while 71 per cent of the children were girls.

Pope Francis called on everyone, not just the Catholic community, to take action against people who were exploiting children and that we needed ‘to take ever more effective measures to fight this plague.’