Cotonou

Ten years ago, the International Labor Organization (ILO) established June 12 as World Day Against Child Labor. The ILO, an agency of the United Nations, says on its website: "Hundreds of millions of girls and boys throughout the world are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms, violating their rights." The World Day Against Child Labor was launched as a way to highlight the plight of these children and support governments and social organizations in their campaigns against child labor. [37 photos]

The rough hands of an Afghan child, at the Sadat Ltd. Brick factory, where some children work from 8am to 5 pm daily, seen on May 14, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Child labor is common at the brick factories where the parents work as laborers, desperate to make more money enlisting their children to help doing the easy jobs. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

TIGHT SQUEEZE: A fireman worked to remove a man who was stuck in a space between walls in Liujiang County in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Thursday. The man got stuck in the space less than eight inches wide while collecting waste material for recycling. (Zuma Press)

ISLAMIST-LED RALLY: A man stood on his motorbike at a protest in Cairo Friday. Tens of thousands of Egyptians rallied in Tahrir Square with Islamists in the forefront to protest against what they say are attempts by the country’s military rulers to designate themselves as the guardians of a new Egypt. (Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

WELCOME TO BENIN: Women danced at a welcoming ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI at an airport in Cotonou, Benin, Friday. The 84-year-old pope is making his second trip to Africa, the fastest-growing region for the Roman Catholic Church. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images)

SHOOTING DRILL: Students lay face-down in a classroom during a drill in a high school in a low-income neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Thursday. More than 2,400 high school students and teachers carried out a shooting drill in high-risk areas due to the city’s level of violence, local media reported. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

TSUNAMI DAMAGE: A three-story building lay on its side in Onagawa, Japan, Friday. Though much of the debris left by the March 11 tsunami has been removed, there is little sign of rebuilding in communities across northeast Japan. (Greg Baker/Associated Press)

SEEKING SCRAPS: Men searched for valuables in the Zongo market in Cotonou, Benin, on Thursday, two days after residents say the market was destroyed by police without warning. Officials said they were making the area presentable for Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives Friday. (Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press)

MOVED TO TEARS: Gretchen Vanderlinden-Wang cried as she listened to personal testimony from Social Security recipients Thursday at Capitol Hill in Washington during a rally against cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

STORM DAMAGE: A man walked past damaged cars and trees near Rock Hill, S.C., Thursday. A storm system that spawned tornadoes moved across the Southeast late Wednesday, killing at least six people in three states and flattening homes. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press)

RELOCATED: Police officers carried away a protester from the Occupy movement in Los Angeles Thursday. (David McNew/Reuters)

WHALE OF A TIME: People took pictures in front of a dead sperm whale in Meldorf, Germany, Thursday. The beached whale’s body will be recovered in the coming days and its skeleton eventually will be displayed at the Natural History Museum in Muenster, Germany. (Carsten Rehder/DPA/Zuma Press)

SMOLDERING HEAP: Smoke rose from houses after a blaze in a slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday. More than 100 homes burned to the ground. (Munir uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)