Sale of Children & Child Labor The International Labour
Organization (ILO) in 1996 estimated a global figure of 250
million child workers worldwide, of which 140 million were boy
workers and 110 million girl workers. The Statistics and
Monitoring Program in Child Labour, the statistical unit of the
International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
(ILO/IPEC) in its 2002 report estimates that globally there were
211 million children aged 5–14 at work in economic activity in
the year 2000. The total economically active child population
between 5–17 is estimated at 352 million children. The largest
number of child workers live in the Asia-Pacific region, though
Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest incidence rate: almost 30% of
all children in Africa between the ages to 5–14 are economically
active. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography recognize the right of the chil