Child Labour and Health

Understanding Children’s Work Project Working Paper Series, January 2002

1.

Child labour and health: evidence and research issues

O. O’Donnell
E. Van Doorslaer
F.C. Rosati

January 2002

Child labour and health: evidence and research issues
Owen O’Donnell∗
F. C. Rosati**
Eddy van Doorslaer***
Working Paper
January 2002
Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) Project
University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
Faculty of Economics
Via Columbia 2, 00133 Rome
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

As part of broader efforts toward durable solutions to child labor, the International Labour
Organization (ILO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Bank initiated the interagency Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) project in December 2000. The project is guided by the Oslo Agenda for Action, which laid out the priorities for the international community in the fight against child labor. Through a variety of data collection, research, and assessment activities, the UCW project is broadly directed toward improving understanding of child labor, its causes and effects, how it can be measured, and effective policies for addressing it. For further information, see the project website at www.ucw-project.org.
This paper is part of the research carried out within UCW (Understanding Children 's Work), a joint
ILO, World Bank and UNICEF project. The views expressed here are those of the authors ' and should not be attributed to the ILO, the World Bank, UNICEF or any of these agencies’ member countries. ∗
Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia Street, Thessaloniki,
54006, Greece. Tel. [phone]. Fax [phone]. email: [e-mail].

** UCW project and University of Rome “Tor Vergata”
*** Erasmus University

Child labour and health: evidence and research issues
Working Paper
January 2002

ABSTRACT
The ILO definition of the worst forms of

References: includes work that is likely to jeopardise the health, safety or morals of young persons (ILO, 1999) the ILO International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC) are directed at hazardous work or hazardous working conditions (Lansky, 1997, Chart information to the successful implementation of the priority setting approach is well recognised by the ILO (ILO, 1998, p.51).2 work is 250 million (Ashagrie, 1998).