International Labour Conference 98th Session, Geneva, 2009
After his speech there was interface dialogue with students and Dignitaries. Students present in the programme asked questions on the issue of child labour.
A special session of the International Labour Conference was organized to mark the World Day and the tenth anniversary of ILO Convention No. 182 concerning the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Speakers were ILO Director-General Juan Somavia; U.S. Senator Tom Harkin; Mr. J.W. Botha, employers group spokesperson in the Committee on Child Labour of the 1999 International Labour Conference; and Sir Roy Trotman, workers group spokesperson in the Committee on Child Labour of the 1999 International Labour Conference.
Message by Juan Somavia
Director-General of the International Labour Office
on the occasion of
World Day against Child Labour
12 June 2009
Today we focus on girls trapped in child labour: toiling in the fields from sunrise to sunset;
unseen in domestic work; or living and working on the streets of the world. Like all children
they have the right to be free from child labour, to have an education, to realize their
potential.
Yet discrimination, the often hidden nature of their work and the burden of household
responsibility, commonly conspire heavily against girls.
On this World Day, we also mark the 10th anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention
No. 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. We are now only 14
ratifications short of universal ratification by the ILO’s 183 member States. It is a remarkable
expression of national commitment and intent. This Convention also calls on us to pay
attention to the special situation of girls.
The ILO estimates that some 100 million girls are in child labour, with 53 million in
hazardous work. Too many suffer multiple handicaps: the shackles of poverty that deprive
them of options; traditions that devalue girls and deny them their rights; and education
systems and practices that may effectively perpetuate their exclusion.
Investing in girls’ education and training is an investment in equality and social progress – a
girl with an education is better armed to break the cycle of child labour and poverty.
Experience shows that this brings immediate benefits for families. Communities, societies
and economies also benefit. Yet women still account for almost two thirds of the 16 per cent
of the world’s illiterate population – the legacy of persistent structures of inequality and
discrimination.
As the present crisis takes its toll, many women and men are being pushed into poverty or
deeper into poverty. Hard won progress towards the elimination of child labour is threatened
and girls are more vulnerable. We must be vigilant.
Policy choices for recovery and beyond will reflect the nature of the commitment to all the
world’s children. The values, principles and rights that have been so widely endorsed must
be given expression through national and international action to support societies where:
- the rights of girls and boys are equally respected;
- survival strategies do not depend on the labour of children; and
- basic education is accessible to all and choice is not a matter of deciding between educating a boy or a girl.
Sustainable responses call for integrated strategies that also promote jobs for parents and
social protection for individuals and families. This is the approach of the Decent Work
Agenda.
On this World Day, let us re-commit, individually and collectively, to discharging our
responsibility for giving girls a chance and ensuring decent lives for all children.
Statement by Mr. Tom HARKIN (Senator, United States)
Provisional Record
Ninth sitting Friday, 12 June 2009
Presidents: Mr Allam and Mr Zellhoefer
CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
AND THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF CONVENTION NO. 182
The ILO is the oldest agency of the United Nations, a leading advocate for social justice around the world, and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. I am honoured to be with you to share not only the ILO‟s 90th anniversary, but also the 75th anniversary of the United States joining the ILO, and the 10th anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182. At the outset, I want to thank Director General Somavia for his inspirational leadership over the last ten years. I thank him, in particular, for his passionate commitment to the cause Of eliminating the worst forms of child labour around the world.
I also want to thank all of you – representatives of labour ministries and proud and committed members of trade unions and employer organizations – for your leadership back home and collectively here in this world parliament of labour.
Thanks to your tripartite leadership, ten years ago this month this body adopted ILO Convention No. 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. Thanks to your commitment, it was the most rapidly ratified ILO Convention in history.
In adopting Convention No. 182, the ILO declared that abusive and exploitative child labour is one of those uniquely offensive practices – like slavery – that is never acceptable and never excusable. And you set forth the great goal of eliminating this scourge from the face of the Earth.
You were clear about what is meant by abusive and exploitative labour. It is not kids helping out the family, growing vegetables or fruits or working on a small farm with their family. It is not wholesome, after school work, which, I dare say, a lot of us did when we were younger. ILO
Convention No. 182 addresses the horror of children who are chained to looms or who toil in factories where furnace temperatures exceed 800 degrees Celsius; children who work unprotected under slave like conditions; children forced to sell illegal drugs, forced into prostitution, forced into armed conflict.
These children endure long hours of hard labour, with little or no pay. They are denied an education and deprived of normal growth and development. They are children stripped of their childhood.
I was first introduced to this issue almost 20 years ago, by a man by the name of Kailash
Satyarthi. He opened my eyes to the tragedy of child slaves in the carpet industry – children who were beaten and starved and forced to live without love or hope. Mr Satyarthi‟s extraordinary activism inspired my own work – through legislation in the United States Congress and through public and private initiatives – to fight the worst forms of child labour. So again, I thank you,
Kailash, for all that you have done and for setting my feet on this path to do whatever I could. My own investigations of abusive and exploitative child labour have taken me to ILO projects span ning the globe from West Africa to Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal and many others. This problem is too big for a committed advocate on the ground; much less for a United States Senator. And that is why the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182 was such a landmark event. I was proud to be here in Geneva, along with President Bill Clinton, on 17 June 1999, for that event. And I was proud to introduce to the United States Senate, just this week, a resolution commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Convention, and I want you to know that it passed the United States Senate on Tuesday with a unanimous vote.
ILO Convention No. 182 put the full power and prestige of the ILO and the United Nations into the fight against abusive and exploitative child labour.
Between the years 2000 and 2004, the number of child labourers worldwide fell by 11 per cent. By any measure, that is great progress.
However, I did not come here today to bestow victory laurels. I have come here today with a warning: powerful global forces threaten to take us backwards and to drag a new generation of children into abusive and exploitative labour.
For the first time since the 1930s, we are experiencing a global recession – a downturn that has been especially hard on people in developing countries. Unemployment is surging and prices for basic food staples are skyrocketing. These dire circumstances provide a fertile breeding ground for the worst forms of child labour. Desperate people resort to desperate and degrading measures just to survive, including forcing children into abusive labour. So, I have come to Geneva to urge this body to redouble its commitment to eradicating the exploitation of children.
I applaud the Director General for his Report to this Conference: Tackling the global jobs crisis: Recovery through decent work policies. I also applaud the ILO’s special focus this year. As the Di rector General just said, there are now over 100 million girls who are exploited in child labour.
But words and warnings are not enough, we need deeds and action.
If we are against child labour, then we must be for decent jobs for parents. We must be for greater access to school for every child. We must be for basic social supports so that vulnerable families are not obliged to relinquish their children to exploitation.
So, as you continue to lead on this fundamental issue, I want to quickly outline a five point plan I would like to submit to you for global action.
First, we must provide access to quality education. School fees and related costs effectively close the schoolhouse door to millions of poor kids. And, in many places, especially in rural areas, there simply are not any schools. Wealthy nations must spend less on their militaries and more on education in developing countries. We need fewer bombs and more books. We need fewer troops and more teachers. Second, forging partnerships. I urge the ILO to work with and take some leadership from the Inter national Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to ensure that loans are linked to pledges by governments to increase access to schools and to maintain social safety nets for the poor. I also urge the ILO to continue reaching out to sister organizations within the United Nations to develop joint strategies for improving education and fighting poverty. But I say again, no more IMF loans, no more IMF restructuring, no more World Bank loans un less they are done in accordance with the country pledging that they are going to make education more available to every poor kid in their country.
Third, sharing best practices. I encourage member States to embrace proven programmes, such as Brazil’s Bolsa familia initiative. Under Bolsa familia, poor families in Brazil are given a stipend by the Government of US$35 a month in return for a commitment to keeping their children in school and taking them for regular health checkups. Brazil has created a brilliant model and I congratulate the representatives here from Brazil. But we ought to emulate it. We should follow their lead on this.
Fourth, increasing resources for the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
(IPEC). IPEC has been enormously successful in providing technical assistance to end child
labour and getting kids into schools. In the United States Senate, I secured the initial funding for
this Programme in 1995, and I have succeeded in greatly increasing my Government’s contribution to IPEC in the years since. Since 1995, the United States has provided more than US$377 million, contributing to 155 projects in 73 countries. As a direct result, more than
800,000 children have been rescued from the worst forms of child labour.
IPEC is an outstanding programme. In response to the worldwide recession, it is time for other governments to dramatically increase their funding for IPEC.
And I want to take a pause here to introduce the person who really does all the work on this.
Now, I do not know how this is going to come across in translation, but one of my favourite stories is one that is true. It was told by Will Rogers. Will Rogers was a satirist in the early part of the twentieth century in the United States who was always poking fun at politicians. After the First World War, there was a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. It was a hot July day and the troops all had their uniforms on and they were fainting as they marched. Sitting in the stands were all the politicians and the generals and the admirals. Will Rogers looked at this and he said, “It seems to me that if we wanted to honour the troops, we would let the troops sit in the stands and make the politicians and the generals march by.” That is my way of now introducing the troop who has really done so much to make sure that we have got the money for IPEC, who keeps up to date on all this. I have a lot of duties and responsibilities but I put a high priority on this. I could not do it without Rosemary Gutierez, who is the person who gets the job done.
Fifth, we must amplify the voice of tripartism. I applaud all of the efforts of employers‟ and workers‟ organizations to fight child labour. But I challenge you to do more. We must have more robust and proactive engagement by businesses and trade unions.
Quite simply, businesses can offer a demand side solution to this problem. If businesses ensure that all their supply chains are child labour free, this will make a huge difference and, as I have said to so many businesses, it can be used as a positive marketing tool for the business entity. Just like Walmart, they can actually use that as a way of increasing market share by saying, “See, none of our products are made by child labour”challenge my friends in the trade union movement to speak and act even more forcefully in opposing the worst forms of child labour. Trade unions have always been outspoken advocates for human and civil rights. Well, there is no more pressing human and civil rights issue right now than ending the exploitation and virtual enslavement of children in the workplace. So, ladies and gentlemen, across the globe this is a time of testing. And what is being tested, under the stress of economic crisis, is our commitment to our values and our mutual solidarity, our determination to work together in this great cause of ending the worst forms of child labour.
I believe that we can and will pass this test. You have already shifted the boundaries of the debate. In the span of a decade you have moved the world from denial to awareness to action.
Now let us move from action to abolition: the end of abusive child labour once and for all.
I would like to close by sharing a letter from a young child labourer whose life was transformed by an IPEC project in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
“They call me El Abuelo because I am the oldest of six siblings”, he wrote. “Since I was five, I have been to the dump every day to work for money or to find food. One day I was coming back and heard some children laughing and singing. I got closer to discover many of my garbage picking friends in side. They told me that they were in a programme called Espacios para Crecer (Spaces to Grow). They were learning reading and writing. The next day, without telling my grandma, I left the dump early and I went to the school. I have been there every day since. I have learned to value myself and others, and love my family and community. I learned to read. Neither my father nor mother knew how to read, so that made me a big hero. I earned stars in maths and started writing, and now I cannot stop. If I want to be somebody in the future I have to study. I do not want to grow up in the dump. I want to be a teacher and teach others everything that has been taught to me.” Ladies and gentlemen, every child deserves espacios para crecer. (Every child deserves spaces to grow.)
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr famously said that, “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” And that is true. But I would add that it does not bend all by itself. It bends because of the actions of great, progressive organizations like the ILO. It bends because of the actions of people of goodwill – like all of you in this hall – who are changing the world, one community, one village, one child at a time.
In the first decade since the adoption of Convention No. 182, acting together, we have made great progress in the fight against the worst forms of child labour.
So things are changing. And I can tell you, things are changing in my country. Those of you who may have been to Washington before, I can tell you it may look the same, but it is not. It is not, because we have a dynamic, progressive, new President of the United States who gets it and understands it. President Obama served with me on our labour committee and helped us in everything we could do to provide funds for these programmes. He gets it. And he understands that we have to make great changes. And so now I can say, for the first time in a long time, I have a friend in the White House. And I can say, for the first time in a long time, so do you.
So thank you again Director General Somavia for your outstanding global leadership on this issue and on so many issues of human rights and social and economic justice. And through you I thank all of you in this hall and all members of the ILO for what you are doing every day. Let us make it our goal, within the next decade, to finish the job. And of course, with the United States in these kinds of meetings and speeches, by echoing our President, “Yes we can!” |
