What are we waiting for? Sustainable societies begin with children need governments to make child-friendly policies and change if we channel our energies and our anger at invest adequately in education and young people. injustices in the right way. even a small spark can Governments can no longer ignore the economic dispel darkness in a room. and each of us represents arguments against child labour. increased child labour a small but critical spark if we act on the problems we leads to higher unemployment. Today, for the 150 see rather than just witness them. million children (5–14 years old) doing jobs meant for adults, there are 200 million unemployed adults. Together we can ensure that the commitments Through the right economic measures, governments for a sustainable world are kept and that slavery is should ensure decent living wages for parents so they relegated to the history books where it belongs. let can send their children to school. that be the legacy of our lives – our gift to the world. The benefits of education are known to contribute to economic growth and poverty alleviation. reports show that each dollar invested in quality education will return 15 times the amount in two decades. The rule of law should extend to every last child. Businesses must be more responsible and faith leaders must recognize that compassion for others is a central tenet for all faiths. it is the responsibility of each and every one of us: We must build the world of our dreams with compassion for our fellow man and woman, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, nationality, politics or anything else. When we as citizens unite in holding governments, businesses and civil society accountable, anything will be possible. My colleagues and i have humbly done our part – drop by drop over the years. The result is that more than 85,000 children have been rescued from child labour and servitude and given back their childhood. it is not enough to extinguish the blaze represented by the millions of children who remain in slavery, but to those children and their families it has meant everything. We can be and must be the generation that extinguishes that blaze once and for all. We need to teach our bright, young, energetic and idealistic youth the value of compassion, so they don’t become disillusioned or turn to violence at a time when both they and the world seem more susceptible than ever. devli, an eight-year-old bonded labourer whom my colleagues and i once rescued from a stone quarry, perfectly captured the urgency upon which we must act. She asked me, “Why didn’t you come earlier?” her question is for all of us. What are we waiting A girl makes bricks at a factory in the Shahdra for? each one of us has the potential to bring about neighbourhood, north of Lahore, Pakistan. © UNICEF/UNI44028/Pirozzi The STaTe of The World’S Children 2016 87