Executive Order

Between fiscal years 1995 and 2001, Congress has appropriated over $113 million to the Department of Labor for international child labor activities and funding of the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC):

These funds are used to support a wide range of child labor projects and activities in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean (see below). United States IPEC funding has focused on the following four objectives:

• Eliminating child labor in specific hazardous and/or abusive occupations. These targeted projects aim to remove children from work, provide them with educational opportunities, and generate alternative sources of income for their families.
• Bringing more countries that are committed to addressing their child labor problem into the IPEC program.
• Documenting the extent and nature of child labor.
• Raising public awareness and understanding of international child labor issues.

A new fifth objective of the International Child Labor Program will be carried out by Timebound Programs. In fiscal year 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has been provided $82 million for child labor and basic education initiatives. DOL will use these expanded resources to support new comprehensive national programs in three countries:

• El Salvador,
• Nepal, and
• Tanzania

IPEC will seek new partnerships in these countries with other agencies, international organizations and financial institutions to bring together additional resources on basic education, school feeding programs, and school-based child health and nutrition programs. Among these organizations are the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF), the World Bank, the World Food Program, and the World Health Organization.

The new initiatives in El Salvador, Nepal, and Tanzania will be formally kicked off as leaders from these and other countries come together at the International Labor Conference in Geneva in June 2001. At the same time these new initiatives are being launched, DOL will continue to support pilot projects, child labor surveys, and public awareness activities in a variety of other countries where more comprehensive programs may be launched in the future.

To date the following projects have been funded in the following categories and countries:

1. Elimination of Child Labor in Specific Hazardous Occupations

   The objective of these initiatives is to remove children from work in hazardous or abusive sectors as well as support credible monitoring and tracking systems to ensure children do not return to the workplace. IPEC is providing assistance to hundreds of thousands of working children and their families, including educational opportunities, vocational training, and income-generating opportunities for the families. Projects involve innovative partnerships, and often cost-sharing, among governments, labor and industry groups, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

.
Africa:
• West and Central Africa: child trafficking (1999)
• East and Central Africa: commercial agriculture (2000)


Asia:
• South Asia: child trafficking (1999)
• South East Asia: footwear and fishing industries (1999)
• Bangladesh: garment industry (1996)
• Nepal: child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (1997)
• Pakistan: soccer ball and carpet industries (1997)
• Thailand: commercial sexual exploitation (1995)
• Bangladesh: worst forms of child labor (2000)


Latin America and Caribbean:
• Central America and Dominican Republic: commercial agriculture (2000), and coffee (1999)
• Costa Rica: child prostitution (1998)
• El Salvador: shellfish harvesting (1998),and fireworks industry (2000)
• Guatemala: stone quarries (1998), and fireworks industry (1999)
• Nicaragua: child prostitution (1999), and garbage dumps (2000)
• South America: gold mining (2000), child prostitution (2000), and child domestic servants (2000)
• Brazil: footwear industry (1995)
• Haiti: child domestic servants (1999)



2. Bring More Countries into the IPEC Program

   Under this initiative, a number of countries that have demonstrated a political commitment to addressing their child labor problem are provided technical assistance by IPEC. With U.S. funding, IPEC is enhancing the ability of these countries to develop, carry out, and enforce national policies, and plans of action to combat child labor. National steering committees with the participation of government, labor and industry groups as well as NGOs are established to develop and oversee the implementation of the national plans of action. Initially, a selected number of working children are targeted and provided with educational opportunities.


Africa:
• Ghana (1999), Nigeria (1999), Uganda (1999), Zambia (1999), and South Africa (2000)


Asia:
• Mongolia (1999)


Eastern Europe and Middle East
• Romania (1999), and Yemen (2000)



3. Document the Extent and Nature of Child Labor

   An essential step towards developing effective strategies to eliminate and prevent child labor is accurately documenting the extent and nature of the problem. Reliable child labor data is needed for governments and international organizations to develop programs and monitor progress. Towards this effort, the Department of Labor is funding national child labor surveys through the ILO's Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor (SIMPOC).


Africa:
• Statistical surveys on child labor in Ghana (1999), Nigeria (1999), South Africa (1995), Uganda (1999), and Zambia (1999)


Asia:
• Statistical surveys on child labor in Bangladesh (2000), and the Philippines (1995)


Latin America and Caribbean:
• Statistical surveys on child labor in Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama - (1999)


Eastern Europe and Middle East:
• Statistical survey on child labor in Romania (1999)


Global:
• Rapid Assessments on the worst forms of child labor in 38 sectors in over 20 countries (2000)



4. Awareness Raising/Public Education

   Public awareness and education campaigns on the local, national and international levels are essential to combating child labor. IPEC is producing printed and audio-visual materials and organizing events to broaden public understanding of the problem and encourage governments to adopt innovative approaches for eliminating child labor. Activities under this initiative are global in scope.