RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Brazil marked World Day Against Child Labor on Tuesday by launching a campaign to help denounce and eradicate the practice.
Under the banner "Not protecting childhood means condemning the future," the National Forum for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor unveiled the campaign to encourage people to blow the whistle, especially on the more dangerous forms of child labor, such as agricultural or domestic work.
Brazilian law makes it illegal to hire anyone under the age of 18 for those tasks.
The forum reports that now more than 2 million Brazilian children aged five to 17 work, which stunts their educational and employment outlook, and often leads to physical injury.
That figure is as high as 2.7 million, according to a 2015 survey conducted by Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
"A child that works does not have the level of concentration or energy needed to study. The fact that the state does not guarantee quality public education for all is an aggression in itself, combined with child labor, it dooms these children," forum adviser Tania Dornellas said.
Brazil failed to meet its initial target to end dangerous forms of child labor by 2016, as part of its commitment to the International Labor Organization (ILO). That commitment has now been revised and the target is to eradicate all forms of child labor by 2025.
Brazil's Health Ministry reports that between 2007 and 2017, at least 236 children aged five to 17 died from work-related conditions, and another 40,000 suffered work-related accidents. Of these, 24,000 involved serious injuries such as broken bones or amputations.
