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"Global March is committed to follow-up of Roadmap 2016 and its implementation across all economic sectors as part of a broader effort to revitalise the worldwide movement against child labour in 2011."
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
2010 has been an important year for global efforts to eliminate child labour, creating a solid platform for Global March Against Child Labour, its members and partners to reinvigorate the worldwide movement against child labour in the New Year.
The Global Child Labour Conference hosted by the Dutch government and organised by the International Labour Organisation in May, which led to the universal acclamation of Roadmap 2016, re-established child labour elimination as a major priority for the global development agenda. Global March played an important role in drafting of the Roadmap and, with its members and partners, contributed significantly to the discussions in The Hague.
We focused our attention on the link between child labour and education through our support for the Global Campaign for Education’s Global Action Week, as well as the 1-Goal campaign during the FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa. The World Cup featured prominently in many related campaigning efforts, including the World Day Against Child Labour, and it was pleasing to note the significant response from Global March members and partners to these efforts. In September, an electronic petition was launched prior to the UN’s Millennium Development Goal Summit in New York calling for the mainstreaming of child labour elimination in worldwide efforts to achieve the MDGs. These and related efforts were rewarded with a specific reference to child labour in the outcome declaration.
Global March is committed to follow-up of Roadmap 2016 and its implementation across all economic sectors as part of a broader effort to revitalise the worldwide movement against child labour in 2011. Marking the first anniversary of the Roadmap’s adoption on 11 May 2011, we will be organising an international multi-stakeholder consultation to focus on its implementation in the garment-manufacturing sector. We will also be focusing attention on its implementation in the agricultural sector through an international conference October 2011.
We are also very pleased to announce the first World Assembly of the Global March to be held in Morocco in October 2011. This event will be open to all members and partners and will be a major step forward in our efforts to revitalise the worldwide movement against child labour through the launch of our 5-year strategic plan of action, including follow-up to Roadmap 2016 and mainstreaming child labour into Education For All and MDG activities.
2011 will be an important year of opportunities and challenges for Global March, its members and partners. The global economic crisis has had a major impact on development budgets and will inevitably lead to increased incidence of child labour and the exploitation of vulnerable groups worldwide. Achieving our goals has become more important than ever before on the threshold of this New Year.
Millions of children today and the future generations of tomorrow will benefit from a strong, determined, active and coherent Global March movement. We look forward with great anticipation to working together with you in 2011 to revitalise and strengthen our movement and redouble our efforts to protect vulnerable children and ensure that they can benefit from their fundamental rights!
Season's greetings & in solidarity,
Kailash Satyarthi |
