There are 10,000 children in Madagascar who, like Tenasoa, work in the largely unregulated mica industry. The silicate is used in paints, car parts, and cosmetics – to add a “shimmer” effect. Alongside parents and grandparents, these children toil in dangerous conditions, inhaling harmful dust particles and entering structurally unsound tunnels. Many of them have dropped out of school – if they ever went at all. “If we don’t work, we don’t eat,” Soja, Tenasoa’s grandfather, said. “It’s very simple. Men, women and children must all work to survive.” In 2015, the United Nations set a goal to end child labour worldwide by 2025 but progress has been slow and halting, according to the Child Labour Report released on Wednesday by the International Labour Organization ( ILO ) and the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ). The report estimates that 138 million children – a 12 million decrease from 2020 – are still engaged in child labour, leading both ILO and UNICEF to call for the rapid accelerati...
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