World Day Against Child Labour on June
12, 2004: Global March Against Child Labour makes the
world look at one of the most elusive forms of child
labour
New Delhi, June 11, 2004 – On Saturday, June 12, the
World Day Against Child Labour will be celebrated for
the third time. Global March Against Child Labour, along
with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and
social partners from around the world, will focus on
the overlooked plight of domestic child labour, by holding
simultaneous mass actions worldwide.
On June 12, 2004, partners of Global March Against
Child Labour, the largest worldwide civil society initiative
against economic exploitation of children, will be taking
the case against domestic child labour to communities,
governments, and the streets. They will also release
the Children's Declaration, an outcome document of the
recently concluded First Children's World Congress on
Child Labour in Florence, Italy. Kailash Satyarthi,
Chairperson of Global March, says: “Child Domestic Workers
toil at the cost of their childhood and all their rights.
This World Day Against Child Labour is the opportunity
to once more raise awareness of the unacceptable conditions
these children are living in.”
Global March Against Child Labour requests governments
to put a legal ban on employing children below the legal
minimum age of employment in domestic work and to provide
legal protection for domestic work in general. International
and national institutions are asked to integrate the
issue of child domestic labour in action plans for Education
for all and to incorporate the root causes that push
children into domestic work in poverty reduction strategies.
Behind Closed Doors
Domestic child labour is one of the most elusive forms
of child labour to tackle. Children working behind the
closed doors of private homes are invisible and alone,
difficult to reach and to count. A majority of child
domestic workers live in the exclusive around-the-clock
control of their employers. In most countries domestic
work is not considered as work; therefore is not protected
by laws and does not show up in employment statistics.
According to ILO estimations a high percentage of the
250 million child labourers in the developing world
are considered to be domestic workers. Around 90% of
all child domestic workers are girls.
The ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child
Labour declares child domestic labour to be one of the
worst forms of child labour. Often children are sold,
contracted or trafficked as domestic servants where
they may repay their families' debt. Hidden from the
public eye and separated from their families and peers
many child domestic workers are victims of physical,
psychological and sexual abuse.
Actions Around the World – Activities of Global March
Partners
In the Philippines , the Visayan
Forum Foundation , regional coordinator of Global
March in South East Asia, will stage a candle light
vigil across Philippine cities with 1,000 child domestic
workers and social partners to call the public attention
to the plight of "modern-day slaves". In Peru
, the Centro De Estudios Sociales Y Publicaciones/CESIP
(Centre of Social Studies and Publications), as
part of a committee consisting of representatives of
the ILO, the government and other social organisations
will hold an anti-child labour event in the ILO office
in Lima. One highlight is a film presentation telling
the story of a domestic child labourer. In Togo ,
on June 14, WAO Afrique, regional Global March
coordinator in francophone Africa will mobilise people
throughout communities to raise awareness on commercial
sexual exploitation of children in the country. On June
17, over 200 former child labourers and school-going
children will meet with Ministers of Education, Labour,
Social Welfare and Tourism for an accountability session.
Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) , Global March
regional coordinator in South Asia, will hand the Children's
Declaration of the Children's World Congress on Child
Labour to the State Head. In the Dominican Republic
, the Committee for the Global March Against Child
Labour will have a march in Santo Domingo with 5000
children, 30% of them former child labourers, demanding
a world free of child labour.
For more information on the Inernational Child Labour
Day visit http://www.ilo.org/childlabour
For more information, please contact:
International Secretariat
Global March Against Child Labour
L-6 Kalkaji, New Delhi 110019 India
Tel: (91 11) 2622 4899, 2647 5481
Fax: (91 11) 2623 6818
E-mail: childhood@globalmarch.org, gmis@globalmarch.org.in
Website: http://www.globalmarch.org
