Almost one in ten children wake up every morning and go to work. They slave away in factories and fields, and as maids and sex workers.
United Nations declarations specifically guarantee the rights of a child to be protected from economic exploitation. But vague laws, or sometimes a complete lack of legislation, mean that millions of children find themselves at work when they should be at school - often in hazardous conditions.
At least 168 million children around the world work, with more than half of them in dangerous conditions, according to the International Labour Organization.
Almost 80 million children are working in the Asia-Pacific region. That's equivalent to the entire population of Turkey. And one in five children in Sub-Saharan Africa have jobs. That's almost 60 million children.
The agriculture business is the biggest employer. Sixty percent of child labourers - nearly 100 million children - tend to farms and animals. But a lot of children, around 66 million, are also working in the service and industry sectors.
What does it take to end child slavery?
Presenter: Jane Dutton
Guests:
Simon Steyne - head of Social Dialogue and Partnerships at the ILO-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.
Hussaini Abdu - country director of the Actionaid Nigeria.
Prabhat Kumar - General Manager of Child protection at Save the Children India.
