Stunning photographs shine light on child labor 

It is impossible to estimate how many children and their families work as garbage pickers, but they can be found in dumps on every continent. In India, children make six cents to 12 cents a day battling flies, vermin and rabid dogs to scavenge for scraps.

More girls under 16 work as domestic servants than in any other form of child labor.

These are only some of the millions of children who are forced to work in hazardous conditions for their very survival. The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that 218 million children ages 5-17 are child laborers.

The stories of these children are told in a series of stunning photographs in Before Their Time: The World of Child Labor, a new book by David Parker, a medical epidemiologist and children's rights advocate. He is the author of three books of photography on the subject, based on visits to dozens of countries over the last 15 years.

Visit the AFT's child labor Web site at www.aft.org/topics/international/child-labor/index.htm.