WORST FORM OF CHILD LABOUR---ILO Convention No. 182

The term ‘child labour’ is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.

It refers to work that:

1. is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and

2.interferes with their schooling by:

a. depriving them of the opportunity to attend school;

b.obliging them to leave school prematurely; or

c. requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

 The worst forms of child labour as defined by Article 3 of ILO Convention No. 182:

(a) all forms of slaveryor practices similar slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children,debt bondage and serfdom and forced or       compulsory labour, including forced compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography

or for pornographic performances;

(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for

illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;

(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

Labour that jeopardises the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child,either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out, is known as ‘hazardous work’.