The different categories used for classifying data in this report are: total child labour, total children in the worst forms of child labour, child slavery, child trafficking, child prostitution, children used for crime, children used in armed conflict, domestic child servants, and hazardous child labour.

These categories are based on the definitions in ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and standard interpretations of the terms. This is how we have used the categories:

Total Child Labour - We understand "child labour" to mean any work which by its nature or employment conditions is detrimental to a child's physical, mental, moral, social, or emotional development. A child is defined as any person under the age of 18. This category is for aggregate data on children working in all forms of child labour.

Total Children in the Worst Forms of Child Labour - The "worst forms of child labour" is understood to be those types of work for children described in Article 3 of ILO Convention 182. The full text of this article is:

(a)	all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b)	the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c)	the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
(d)	work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

This category is for aggregate data on children working in all worst forms of child labour.

Child Slavery - As per ILO Convention 182, we understand slavery to mean: "all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict". Many children in prostitution and child domestic service are also in slavery or slave-like conditions, but for simplicity of presentation, information about these cases have been kept in their respective categories.

Child Trafficking - Child trafficking refers "to any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration". This category is qualitatively different from the others in that it refers to the process that puts children in a situation of commercial exploitation. Many of them end up working as slaves, prostitutes, soldiers, etc. In a case such as children trafficked into prostitution, data in the report is listed under both "child trafficking" and "child prostitution" so that each category stands on its own. Child trafficking does not include case of kidnapping where there is no commercial consideration.

Child Prostitution and Pornography - As per the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, the definition of child prostitution is "the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration". Child pornography means "any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child, the dominant characteristic of which is depiction for a sexual purpose. "

Children Used for Crime - In line with Article 3(c) of ILO Convention 182, this category covers "the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties". It is important to note that this category is different than the broader category of juvenile crime which includes the cases of children on their own committing criminal acts, such as assault or petty theft. It can, however, be considered to include almost all cases of children selling drugs, as they are usually being used as the distribution end of a larger business chain. Overall statistics from Interpol on juvenile crime has been included in the data table as it helps give a broader picture of the issue.

Children Used in Armed Conflict - We understand this to mean the involvement of children as combatants or supporting workers in armed conflict, whether by government forces or rebel forces, whether recruited forcibly or voluntarily. Article 3(a) of ILO Convention 182 includes specifically the case of "forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict", and Article 3(d) which covers "work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children" would include the broader case of children used in armed conflict, as such work can universally be seen as likely to harm the safety of children. This is reinforced by Article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which requires states to "take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities." Children who have voluntarily joined government armed forces that are not presently involved in hostilities may not strictly be considered part of this category, but information about them has been included to give a broader picture of the situation.

Domestic Child Servants - This category is understood to mean children working on household duties for extended hours at the home of an employer. The category "domestic child servants" is not explicitly mentioned in ILO Convention 182 or ILO Recommendation 190, but many of these children are working in slavery or slave-like conditions, many have been trafficked into their current situation, and most young full-time domestic child servants are working at risk to their health, safety and morals. To reinforce this point, Paragraph 3 of Recommendation 190 says that states should consider hazardous work to include "work which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse" and "work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer". Several authors consider child domestic servitude to be one of the most damaging forms of work for a child's physical, mental, moral, social, and emotional development. This category does not, however, include part-time domestic work done on a commercial basis by children old enough not to be harmed by such work, or normal household chores done as membership in a family.

Hazardous Child Labour - As per ILO Convention 182, Article 3(d), hazardous child labour is considered to be "work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children." Article 4 of the Convention requires that in determining what is hazardous child labour, governments must consider Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Recommendation 190, which state:

3. In determining the types of work referred to under Article 3(d) of the Convention, and in identifying where they exist, consideration should be given, inter alia, to:

(a)	work which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse;
(b)	work underground, under water, at dangerous heights or in confined spaces;
(c)	work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads;
(d)	work in an unhealthy environment which may, for example, expose children to hazardous substances, agents or processes, or to temperatures, noise levels, or vibrations damaging to their health;
(e)	work under particularly difficult conditions such as work for long hours or during the night or work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer.

4. For the types of work referred to under Article 3(d) of the Convention and Paragraph 3 above, national laws or regulations or the competent authority could, after consultation with the workers' and employers' organizations concerned, authorize employment or work as from the age of 16 on condition that the health, safety and morals of the children concerned are fully protected, and that the children have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity.

To avoid complete duplication, the information in the data table for this category is only "other hazardous child labour", which does not necessarily fall into the above categories of specific worst forms of child labour.