Prepared by The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR)*

32 — Percentage of world’s children aged 5-14 working in Africa (2 of every 5 African children) (ILO, 1998)

61 — Percentage of the world’s children aged 5-14 working in Asia (1 of every 5 Asian children) (ILO, 1998)

60-70 — Percentage of children aged 5-14 forced into the sex trade who become infected with HIV/AIDS each year (Free A Child)

100 — Number of states that, as of September 2001, have ratified the International Labour Organization’s 1999 Convention (No. 182) on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO, 2001)

8,000 — Number of children (ages unspecified) abducted and forced to become child soldiers and slaves in northern Uganda in 1997 (Amnesty International)

10,000 — Estimated number of children aged 6-14 enslaved in brothels in Sri Lanka (Global March Against Child Labour, 1997)

25,455 — Number of children under 18 working in prostitution in the Dominican Republic (UNICEF, 1999)

200,000 — Number of children (ages unspecified) trafficked every year in West and Central Africa, employed on fishing vessels and farms, in prostitution, and in sweatshops (UNICEF, 2001)

300,000 — Number of children under the age of 18 actively fighting in 41 countries (Human Rights Watch, 2001)

500,000 — Number of children (ages unspecified) recruited into governmental forces and armed groups in more than 87 countries (Human Rights Watch, 2001)

866,000 — Number of children under the age of 18 currently participating in armed conflicts in more than 30 countries

926,038 — Number of children aged 5-17 engaged in some form of economic activity in Sri Lanka (ILO, 1999)

1,000,000 — Number of children (ages unspecified) forced into the sex trade each year (Free the Children, 2001)

1,000,000-2,000,000 — Estimated number of American children under age 18 employed under unlawful, often exploitative conditions (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1995)

2,000,000 — Number of children (ages unspecified) killed in conflict in the last decade, another 6 million having been injured or disabled and 12 million made homeless (UNICEF, 2001)

3,600,000 — Number of children aged 5-14 working in the Phillippines in 1995, 216,000 of whom were aged 5-9 (Global March Against Child Labour, 2000)

20,000,000 — Estimated number of children under age 15 working in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNICEF, 1995)

120,000,000 — Number of children aged 5-14 estimated to be working full time in the world (ILO, 1998)

250,000,000 — Number of children aged 5-14 working in developing countries who combine work with school or other activities (ILO, 1998)

*First published in The Iowa Review (Volume 31, Number 3) Winter 2001-02. Copyright © 2001 by The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights. For further information on human rights generally, please visit the UICHR web site.