Thirteen-year-old Min Min scavenges day and night for precious stones in a quarry in Hpakant, northern Myanmar, where perilous conditions have led to the deaths of many workers. With more than a million children working in the country, the UN is fighting to end child labour worldwide.
The child workers run considerable risks: in just one day, in July 2020, some 200 people died in a mudslide at a jade mining site in Hpakant.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Myanmar has successfully helped to halve child labour in three communities, as part of a pilot project and, with 2021 marking the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, is working closely with the Government to eliminate the practice in the country.