DILI (TOP) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate José Ramos-Horta asked all people in the world to do fair share and end child labor.
Ramos-Horta, joint recipient of the 1996 Nobel prize for efforts to bring independence and peace to Timor-Leste, which suffered a brutal Indonesian occupation for nearly a quarter century, said in the last 20 years the annual wealth of the world has increased by $30 trillion – yet 1 in 10 children alive today are still so poor and hungry that they are forced to work in fields, factories, mines and homes in order to survive.
“This would not be happening if they had a fair share of resources. It would not be happening if they had their fair share of the policies and social protection in place for other children,” he said today.
He added; “it would not be happening if we paid attention to their lives and the injustices they face every day”.
Ramos-Horta, Timor-Leste’s president from 2007 to 2012 explained, the unequal global response to the pandemic has seen those who need the most help get the least and now UNICEF and the International Labour Organization have warned that child labour is anticipated to increase despite 2021 being the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
“We must not only prevent this potential reversal in progress but make the breakthrough needed to meet the 2025 deadline to end all forms of child labour (SDG 8.7)”.
He asked, heads of States across the world must fulfill their promise of eradication of child labour, without which the global sustainability agenda would be no more than eyewash.
“If the most marginalized children had a fair share of budgets, policies and social protection then we would eliminate child labour once and for all. As part of the Fair Share to End Child Labour this year, all of us must commit to ending child labor and ensuring every child has their fair share”.
