New report finds 168M kids still engaged in child labor

A new report has revealed that some 168 million children around the world are still engaged in some form of child labor.

According to UCLA's World Policy Analysis Center has published comprehensive analysis of children's rights in 190 countries around the world, 74 percent of the countries no longer allow children to engage in hazardous work, once legal exceptions are taken into account.

It was also found that nearly half of the countries under Convention on the Rights of the Child still allow children to work in jobs that endanger their health and safety, including mining and factory work.

When it came to education, it was found that twenty-four percent of the countries that ratified the CRC charge tuition before the end of secondary education, while in case of child marriage, 88 percent of countries that ratified the CRC have set a minimum age for marriage of 18 or older. But when exceptions with parental consent are included, only 49 percent of these countries protect girls from early marriage.

Dr. Jody Heymann, founding director of the World Policy Analysis Center and dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said that the CRC is a promise from our global community to all children and everyone deserves to know whether their country is fulfilling that promise and how it compares to other countries facing similar opportunities and constraints.