International health day is an opportune date to reflect on the negative consequences that child labor has on the health of children and adolescents and its effects even in adult life.

The link between Goal 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 3 on “Health and well-being” broadens the panorama for the implementation of interventions against child labor under a comprehensive health approach, especially to put an end to the worst forms of child labor that are those that potentially endanger the well-being of children and adolescents.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, children and adolescents involved in child labor who carry out dangerous activities, as well as those victims of the worst forms of child labor (slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, forced recruitment for armed conflicts, commercial sexual exploitation and pornographic or those who are used to commit crimes) are exposed to a series of risk factors that have a negative impact on their physical and mental health, which expose them to develop emotional and psychological disorders.

This year 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes the issue of depression, one of the disorders that has been increasing its number of cases and that is present in the lives of many workers and also affects many underage people who work.

Depression can appear in working children and adolescents as a consequence of various situations: not having completed the work or task in charge; submission to punishment and threats; loss of contact with parents and direct family members or temporary estrangement; inability to attend school; limitations of time, spaces and opportunities to play and share with their peers; the very conditions of vulnerability in which they live, among others. 

This affects their self-esteem, the enjoyment of their childhood or adolescence, hinders their personal, family and social development, exposes them to the consumption of addictive substances such as drugs and alcohol and truncates their school education and professional training, which will later also affect the possibility of access protected and suitable jobs when they reach the minimum age to work. As adults, they will have less facilities to enter the decent world of work, prolonging the cycle of poverty, reducing opportunities for themselves and their families.

Despite being a central dimension for the cognitive, social and emotional development of people, the mental health of children and adolescents is not always considered in depth when talking about child labor. It is important to recognize that underage people who are exploited in criminal ways tend to develop strong emotional and psychological disorders that are difficult to overcome and that put their lives at risk from the beginning, or that may not even be most of the time. visible until reaching adulthood.

On the other hand, in agriculture and mining, sectors where the highest percentages of child labor are registered in the region, activities are related to excessive exhaustion or exposure to toxic substances that affect the brain and that can have harmful effects on both physical and mental development.

Removing children and adolescents from child labor and preventing the entry of new ones to safeguard their well-being implies not only keeping them away from illnesses and accidents that they may suffer while working, but also protecting their mental health and social well-being so that they achieve a full life. Analyzing and finding new approaches to health and well-being that promote the prevention of child labor and prioritize the inclusion of this issue in the political and cooperation agendas of the countries, organizations and society in general, is a pending task for the region if The goal is to reach Target 8.7 and end child labor by 2025.