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Around the world, more than 240 million children are put to work,

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three-quarters of them in the most dangerous of conditions.

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Our cameras will take you inside the mines of Tanzania

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to witness life as a child labourer.

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At the mines, we sift through sand and gems.

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Sometimes we find nothing.

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The mine can collapse on you.

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You can slip and fall.

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While sifting, you swallow the dust.

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You can get really hurt.

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Wilson Peter is 12 years old.

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Unlike young boys in some parts of the world,

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he doesn't go to school, he doesn't have a bicycle,

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and rather than being carefree,

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he bears the burden of having to work to feed his family.

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Merorani, Tanzania.

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The only place on earth where the rare Tanzanite gem is found.

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The popular gem generates an estimated 500 million U.S. dollars annually for traders.

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Only 20 million U.S. dollars goes to Tanzania,

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and almost zero to the children.

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If they don't find a gem, they don't get paid.

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Hundreds of independently operated shafts like this one

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account for roughly 80% of Merorani's Tanzanite production.

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And every day, child miners between the ages of 8 to 14

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risk their lives in poorly constructed shafts.

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Are there dangers in the mines?

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Yes.

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What kinds of danger?

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Chest pains, falling rocks, falling in the mine.

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Do you think it is okay for kids to work in the mines?

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No, I do not like it,

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because they always send you up and down the pit for water,

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soda and the digger, yet you are just a child.

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Local organizations working to get children out of the mines

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estimate the number of child miners in Tanzania at 3,000.

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Fifteen-year-old Muthias is a former child miner.

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Life in the mines was very hard.

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I would often work for no money and no food.

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Because of dust and bad air in the pits, I had problems with my chest.

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Muthias left the mines as soon as he was able to convince

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a local mechanic to give him a job.

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Those that remain, like Wilson Peter and his family

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and the other 30,000 mining families in Merorani,

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survive on less than a dollar a day.

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Wilson Peter's mother says she's unhappy that her child works in the mines,

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but they have little choice.

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They give me money to help us survive and to help me take care of them,

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some for food, some to continue our business.

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That's why we allow them to try their luck in the mines.

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We're not happy with our kids working, but look how we live.

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As you can see, we barely get by.

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Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of child laborers

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of any region in the world.

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The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF,

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estimates as many as 29 percent, or 40 million, working children.

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But their labor is not enough to pull their families out of poverty.

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We have seen that over the years, the poverty levels have increased,

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that families cannot be able to take care of their own children.

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Grace Banya is the coordinator of the International Labor Organization

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Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.

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The outcome will be that we'll have a gap or a generation of people

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who are not educated, who don't have any skills whatsoever,

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to contribute to human development.

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This is a big challenge for the government.

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Harry Mushi is the director of the Mararani Good Hope Program,

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set up to rehabilitate child miners and impoverished families.

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He says even though Tanzania's government

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is part of an international strategy to eliminate child labor,

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it's fighting a losing battle.

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It's the government's wish that all kids go to school.

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But there aren't enough schools for these kids.

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So where will they go?

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The fact is, kids don't go to school.

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The fact is, kids still work in the mines.

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Currently, the number of child miners is increasing.

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Children not working is a right.

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I mean, they have to be in school is a right.

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But who makes sure that right is realized is me and you and everybody.

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So a good policy makes making sure that we enforce the policies that are passed.

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For Wilson Peter,

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the right to go to school may soon be realized

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through the efforts of the Good Hope Program.

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But with its limited resources,

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it manages to reach only 10% of child miners.

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When the Tanzanite gem was discovered by the Maasai tribes,

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they believed the blue color made it special

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and began the tradition of giving the gem to their wives

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when they had their first children as a celebration of new life.

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And perhaps that's what Wilson Peter will be doing

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when he leaves the dark shafts of the mines

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for the bright lights of a classroom.

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If I were president of Tanzania,

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I wouldn't allow kids to work in the mines.

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I would take people who allow kids to work in the mines

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and lock them up.