Child labor is work that deprives children of their childhood, potential, and dignity, and is harmful to their physical and mental development. As at 2020, an estimated 160 million children – 1 in 10 globally – were in child labor, with 79 million engaged in hazardous work. Progress was stalled after 2016, due to COVID 19 pushing 9 million children into child labor by 2022. About 70 of child labor occurs in agriculture, followed by services 20 and industry 10 . The worst forms, defined by ILO Convention 182, include slavery, trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, illicit activities, and hazardous work. The root causes are known to be primarily poverty, lack of quality education, economic shocks, and weak regulation. The consequences include injury, death, school dropout, and perpetuation of intergenerational poverty. ILO Conventions 138 and 182 provide the main international framework, setting minimum working ages and calling for immediate elimination of the worst forms. Proven interventions include cash transfers tied to school attendance, adult living wages, social protection, and labor law enforcement. While long term trends show decline, current data indicate that the world is not on track to end child labor by 2025 under SDG Target 8.7. The paper looks at the causes, history, and challenges to child labor and helps to proffer solutions to curbing this domestic local and international menace in order to promote children’s right. Child, child labor, slavery, trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, illicit activities, hazardous work, poverty, school dropout, injury, intergenerational poverty, SDG Target 8.7, social protection, labor law enforcement, gender inequality. 11-17 Issue-4 Volume-10 Paul A. Adekunte | Matthew N. O. Sadiku | Janet O. Sadiku