Horse racing is part of Naadam, a festival organized every July in Mongolia to celebrate the People’s Revolution. Using children as jockeys in such races has a centuries-long tradition. Boys and girls as young as 5 (although the law imposes a minimum age limit of 7) ride in races that can be dangerous, with hundreds of horses running across the steppe at distances of 12 to 28 kilometres at great speeds. (Photo by Tomasz Gudzowaty)

A young boy lifts heavy bricks as he works at brick factory around Kathmandu valley. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

A young boy walks to his school bus on a foggy day in Dubai on March 14, 2024. (Photo by Chris Whiteoak/The National)

Young girls carry containers filled with drinking water beside the railway station in Agartala, India, April 20, 2016. (Photo by Jayanta Dey/Reuters)

A young boy plays with soap bubbles near Hofburg Palace at Heldenplatz, one of the top tourists attractions in Vienna, Austria, January 26, 2016. (Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA)

“The Challenge!” Young boy relishes in a game of tug of war before school. Photo location: Lake Titicaca, Peru. (Photo and caption by Paul Heyman/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A young girl dressed as living goddess Kumari drinks juice as she waits for Kumari Puja, a worship ritual at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, September 27, 2023. Girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young prepubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in the Newar community that seeks divine blessings to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

A fish jumps over a net as a boy works in a fish farm at Htantapin township, outside Yangon, Myanmar February 18, 2016. One in five children in Myanmar aged 10-17 go to work instead of school, according to figures from a census report on employment published last month, and the opening up of the economy since 2011 has triggered a spike in demand for labour. Many children work in fish farming and processing. At Yangon's San Pya fish market, the country's largest, girls and boys as young as nine clean and process fish and unload boats and trucks during 12-hour overnight shifts. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)