Core marchers and partners from the worldwide march did not stop their journey after arriving at Geneva in 1998. For the whole of the following year, they kept up lobbying activities at the national government levels, organised more rallies, marches and public demonstrations, created stages for rescued child labourers to make their appeals and demanded that their efforts will not go to waste.

Children of the Global March came back to Geneva in 1999 for final deliberations on the text and helped to secure a stronger document. But that was just a beginning of another journey for the Global March's Convention Campaign.

The Global March also helped rejuvenate the ILO and motivate a solid organisational commitment to the cause of child labour. Many have seen the Global March as a turning point for the institution and the successful adoption of a strong Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour would show the world what the ILO could achieve.

Demands of Global March Convention Campaign at the Discussion:

The march was successful and led to the unanimous adoption of the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The Global March movement against child labour and the subsequent Convention Campaign is borne out of hope and the need felt by thousands of people across the globe - the desire to set children free from the worst forms of child labour.

In the year leading to the second and final round of discussions for the Convention, the Global March coordinators and partners worked hard to maintain public attention on the issue of child labour and lobby for specific improvements on the Convention.

The Global March Identified and Stressed on the Following Points:

• Access to education- work that systematically denies a child access to education should be considered one of the worst forms of child labour
• Children in armed conflict- the participation of children in armed conflict should be explicitly banned
• Direct participation of child labourers- the Convention should formally require that children and their families be consulted in the design and implementation of programmes of action

Global March Also Focused on:

• Gaining maximum support to strengthen the promises made by the Convention
• Accelerating the ratification and implementation process for ILO Convention 182
• Political attention on the need for specific and concrete steps to end the worst forms of child labour

The Global March is taking lead on activities to lay a path for and monitor appropriate and effective actions to be taken around the world.

Generating Support for C182:

The launch of the Global March in 1998 began a process that transformed country after country into strong supporters of the cause. NGOs, trade unions, religious groups, children's committees, governments, business communities and other concerned groups have all joined hands in over 130 nations to declare strong commitment to the goals of establishing an effective international instrument to end child labour. In many countries, child labour had never been recognised as a major social issue before the advent of Global March. The involvement of children, civil society and political leaders and the creation of national committees against child labour resulted in a strong commitment within those countries to do something about the problem.

In the process of generating support, the Global March Coordinators and partners worked hard to maintain public attention on the issue of child labour and lobby for specific improvements on the Convention.

During the International Labour Conference's preliminary discussions of the Convention, young and old marchers of the Global March accumulated in Geneva, with wide support of what has become the largest civil society movement in history. And, on 17 June 1999, after two weeks of intense discussion and debate, delegates of the International Labour Conference unanimously adopted a historic convention prohibiting the worst forms of child labour. The event marks the first time in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) history that a convention or treaty has been adopted with the unanimous support of all members.