The international community has fought the practice of child labour for the past four decades. National and international laws make the use of child labour a crime. Nonetheless, enforcement is elusive, which is why RugMark has increased its efforts to end child labour in the South Asian handmade carpet industry where child labour is prevalent.

Following is a list of laws crafted to eliminate the practice of child labour.

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS PROHIBITING CHILD LABOR AND SETTING AGE STANDARDS
Minimum Age Convention 138 (C138), 1973

Adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1973, C138 binds ratifying countries to pursue a national policy for the abolition of child labour and to progressively raise the minimum age for employment or work to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young persons. This minimum age should be 15 years, or the age reached by the completion of compulsory schooling. According to the convention, the minimum age for work that is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons is 18. To date, 144 countries have ratified C138, including Nepal in 1997. India and Pakistan are yet to ratify Convention 138.

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights for children, including civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural. Article 32 states that children have the right to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The Convention is the most universally accepted human rights instrument in history and has been ratified by 192 countries - every country in the world except two, the United States and Somalia.

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 182 (C182), 1999

On June 17, 1999 the ILO adopted Convention 182, which calls for immediate and effective measures to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour. "Child" applies to all persons under the age of 18. "The worst forms of child labour" refers to child slavery, forced labour, trafficking, debt bondage, serfdom, prostitution, pornography, and forms of work that harm the health, safety or morals of children. To date, 160 countries ratified ILO Convention 182 including Pakistan in 2001 and Nepal in 2002. India is yet to ratify Convention 182.