More than a century onwards, however, child labour is a phenomenon still very much alive.
As recent as in 1960, a report of the United Nations showed that, especially in non-industrial jobs, young workers are still not sufficiently protected. In developing countries, moreover, children make up to 10% of the workforce in mines, factories, agriculture and services. So campaigning continues, with 2021 set as an important target date by the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour: the year in which the elimination of child labour should be a fact, and photographs such as these should relics of what we can finally call ‘history’.
By Sofie Taes, KU Leuven
Feature image: Children at work in a metalworking factory, 1910, Rijksmuseum, Public Domain
Europe at Work: Share your story
Did you or members of your family work as children? Share your story and help us tell the story of Europe through our working lives in the past and the present.

This blog post is a part of the Europeana Common Culture project, which explores varied aspects of our shared cultural heritage across Europe.