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IFM-SEI joins the international day against Child Labour
IFM-SEI together with IUSY and ECOSY in the framework of the Global Progressive Youth Forum, launched their campaign to end child labour last weekend at the Youth Action for Decent Work Conference in Berlin.
Stop Child Labour! The International Labour Organisation estimates that there are approximately 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 working full time. Children are working everywhere but are often invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops or hidden from view in plantations. Millions of others work in horrific conditions. They are trafficked, forced into debt bondage or other forms of slavery, into prostitution and pornography, into participating in armed conflict and other illicit activities. Twenty percent of the world’s children do not attend school.
Child work and child labour Child labour refers to children working in contravention of ILO convention 138. This means all children younger than 12 undertaking work in any form, those aged 12 to 14 years engaged in harmful work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of child labour (defined as those involving children being enslaved, forcibly recruited, prostituted, trafficked, forced into illegal activities or exposed to hazardous work) Child labour is a major problem that affects both the global north and south. There are no simple solutions to the causes of child labour, but the cancellation of Southern countries’ debts together with a guaranteed living wage for all adults would improve the situation of children. In the context of child labour, working children are not the ultimate target, the root of the problem is the social and economic situation that forces these children to work.
Globalise Children’s Rights The Global Progressive Youth Forum’s long-term goal is to abolish child labour in all its forms. We are realistic however, and therefore support the new ILO convention to tackle the worst forms of child labour. We demand that all countries who have not yet ratified ILO convention 182 do so! In particular, GPYF wishes to see laws that tackle: 1. All forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery such as the sale and trafficking of children, forced or compulsory labour, debt bondage and serfdom. 2. The use, procurement or offering of children for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances. 3. The use, procurement or offering of children for illicit activities, in particular the production and trafficking of drugs. 4. Work that by the nature of the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to jeopardise the health, safety and well-being of children. 5. The use of children in armed conflicts 6. Work that deprives children access to education.
A comprehensive approach
Laws specifically covering child labour are not enough. A comprehensive approach is called for.
Free primary education must be guaranteed to all children as specified in the Millennium Development Goals. This education should include financial support to families to ensure they have no financial incentive to encourage their children to work. GPYF is opposed to the privatisation of education, all children world-wide must be offered equal opportunities.
Consumers in the Global north must also play their part in ending child labour. The expectation that prices should continue to decrease in the global north only perpetuates the problem and leads to more children being forced to work. To stand against child labour is to stand for ethical and conscious consumption!
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