June 12 marks the World Day Against Child Labor. More than a century ago, in 1906, American poet Edwin Markham drew attention to the plight of child workers in his work The Children in the Loom. Yet the problem he described has not disappeared. Today, child labor remains a troubling reality in the United States, where cases of illegal child employment continue to surface with alarming frequency.

Promoting and safeguarding the rights of children is a shared responsibility of the international community and a vital component of the global human rights agenda. Children represent the future and hope of humanity. They deserve protection, education, and opportunity—not exploitation.