Today is World Day Against Child Labor. India has more child laborers than any other country in the world (somewhere between 12 to 45 million between the ages of 5 and 14), and trafficking or kidnapping is often part of the equation (32,000 children were reported missing in 2011).
We took these photos at the on-site daycare at one of our co-ops. Fair trade’s role in providing a living wage to women in poverty helps fight child labor at its roots.
To read more about the millions of child laborers in India, check out this article from the New York Times. I also recommend doing a google image search for ‘child labor in India.’