Table 1.

Situations in Which Children Work

Level of Exploitation
Description
Principle applicable
International Instruments

 Child Work

Child work is not necessarily exploitative and can play a positive part in a child's development . Lightwork is acceptable for children over the age of 13 (12 years in developing countries) under regulated conditions and without interfering with their education.

United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child. International Labour Organization (ILO) Minimum  Age Convention No 138.

 Child Labour

Child work becomes child labour if the child is working in conditions that interfere with schooling, or that are hazardous or otherwise injurious to the child's physical, mental, social or moral well-being. In its severest forms child labour can be defined as slavery.

UN Convention on the Rights of theChild, Article 32. ILO Minimum Age Convention No 138

 Child Slavery

This is where the child (under 18 years) is taken or otherwise handed over by her/his parents or guardians and compelled to work, or made to pay off loans given as advances through the use of their labour. This also includes child prostitution. Child slavery is prohibited in virtually all countries, but continues to be widely reported.

UN 1956 Supplementary Slavery Convention. ILO Forced Labour Conventions Nos. 29 and 105