Haunting images of child labour around the world

Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations and is illegal in many countries, including India.

Here we take a look at child labour around the world.

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Josue Alexander Chavez, nine-year-old, uses a hammer to break stones as he works near the road to Mazatenango, about 165km north of Guatemala City.

Chavez works with his parents, breaking stones for the construction of houses. He works from 7am-5pm and makes 20 quetzales ($2.50) per day.

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Josue Alexander Chavez carries a hammer as his father Mario Chavez gathers stones near the road to Mazatenango, about 165km north of Guatemala City.

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Josue Alexander Chavez uses a hammer to break stones north of Guatemala City.

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A girl covers her face near the road to Mazatenango, where she fills holes in the road with earth in exchange for money, about 165km north of Guatemala City.

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A boy yawns as he waits for customers at his roadside apple stall in Kabul.

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Seven-year-old Wasim works in a bakery workshop on outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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Naser, seven-year-old, works at a metal workshop which makes propellers for ships at a ship-building yard next to Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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A boy works in a traditional factory producing coal about 30km south of the city of Taiz, Yemen.

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Waste collector Dinesh Mukherjee, 11, uses a magnet attached to a wooden stick to collect pieces of loose metal at the Ghazipur landfill in New Delhi.

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Twelve-year-old Nepalese, Sirjan Rai, rests on the mountain footpath while carrying goods towards Dingboche, Nepal. Earning about Nepalis Rs 3,000 per month, Sirjan helps works as a porter to help provide for his family in Pangboche.

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Boys pan for gold on a riverside at Iga Barriere, 25km from Bunia, in the resource-rich Ituri region of eastern Congo.

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A boy tries to sell a hand made hat to tourists at a public beach in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.

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A girl arranges bricks at a brick factory in Tharvai village, 35km from Allahabad.

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A child worker picks coffee beans from coffee plants at a plantation in El Paraiso, Honduras.

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Child labourers sit on their wheelbarrows while waiting for work at a local market early in the morning in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

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Riffat, eight-year-old, splashes water on his face as he works at a vehicle spare parts store in Dholaikhal, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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Simon, 12, holds a light to assist his supervisor working on a motorcycle engine at a workshop in Islamabad. Simon earns Pakistani Rs 20 a day working as a helper at the workshop.

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Czoton, seven-year-old, works at a balloon factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. About 20 children are employed at the factory and most of them work for 12 hours a day. The weekly wage is 150 taka ($2.14) for the children.

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Tota Miya, 10, shows his hands after preparing soil to make bricks in a brick field on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

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A boy poses as he stands in front of a shop selling scraps in the old quarters of Delhi.

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An illegal immigrant boy from Myanmar collects plastic at a rubbish dump site near Mae Sot. Despite terrible living conditions and the fear of being sent back to their country, several hundred illegal immigrants from Myanmar live and earn an average of $1 per day collecting plastic at the rubbish dump near the border town of Mae Sot, Thailand.

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Children working as rag pickers search for scrap at a garbage dump in Siliguri.

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A boy carries rubbish for recycling outside Kabul. About 1.2 million Afghan children carry out part or full time work, the government says, in a country where war, poverty, widespread unemployment and a preference for large families have created a huge underage labour market.

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A boy works at a brick-making factory outside Kabul. Labourers, most of whom work barefoot and without gloves, earn from $3 to $8 a day depending on their working hours and the number of bricks they make.

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Afghan boy Abdul Wahab works in a blacksmith's shop in Kabul.

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Afghan boy Abdul Wahab rests after work in a blacksmith's shop in Kabul.

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Siddiqullah,12, carries a basket of potatoes to nearby vegetable and fruit vendors in Karachi.

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A cobbler walks in a closed market during a partial strike called by traders against power cuts in Lahore.

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Ahsan, 12, stands looking over an oven at a brick yard in the outskirts of Islamabad. Ahsan works with his family members at the brick yard and earns about Pakistani Rs 300 ($3.5) per day.