The
New Delhi Declaration, November 13, 2003
The
international community’s efforts to achieve Education
For All (EFA) and the progressive elimination of child
labour are inextricably linked. On the one hand, education
– and, in particular, free and compulsory education
of good quality up to a minimum age for entering into
employment – is a key element in preventing children
from working in dangerous or hazardous conditions. On
the other hand, child labour is one of the main obstacles
to EFA and poverty alleviation. Girls’ work is a
serious impediment to achieving gender parity in primary
and secondary education by 2005.
The
education sector has a great potential to contribute to
the prevention and elimination of child labour, which
should be an integral part of education policies worldwide.
In addition to preventing child labour, the education
sector can provide special measures to reintegrate children
withdrawn from hazardous work into school. Still, policies
that focus exclusively on the education system without
accounting for the economic environment of households
and the general state of the labour market will be insufficient
to reduce child labour and achieve EFA over the long term.
This underscores the importance of addressing the root
causes of child labour and the poor quality of and access
to education within a broader poverty reduction strategy
in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
We
acknowledge the significant efforts that are already being
made by the international community for achieving EFA,
the elimination of child labour and the reduction of poverty.
However a more accelerated effort will be needed to meet
our 2015 targets including increased levels of education
funding and the improved targeting of these resources
to better respond to the needs of working children. Great
coordination between education initiatives, social protection
programmes to combat child labour and poverty reduction
measures is also important. In order to promote stronger
linkages between these important development areas and
to further the agenda in terms of mainstreaming and monitoring,
we propose the formation of a global task force on child
labour and education consisting of representatives from
the ILO, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, Global March Against
Child Labour, key agencies, donors and governments and
the Global Campaign for Education, a broad network of
teachers’ organisations and civil society groups.
We thank the Brazilian government for inviting us to meet
again and report progress on the occasion of next year’s
High-Level Group meeting in Brazil.
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