ICLP - About Child Labor
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Statistics on Child Labor The ILO estimates there are at least 250 million working children between the ages of five and 14 in developing countries. Of these, about 120 million are estimated to be working full-time, while the rest combine work with school or other activities. The majority of the world's working children, according to the ILO, are found in Asia (61 percent), followed by Africa (32 percent), and Latin America and the Caribbean (7 percent). While Asia has the highest number of child workers, Africa has the highest proportion of children working, with 41 percent of children between five and 14 years old engaged in some form of economic activity. Reliable national statistics on child labor are rare, and when available, often incomplete. Standard employment surveys are often not specially designed to capture child labor, and employers and households may be reluctant to report when children are working. Furthermore, many governments simply do not collect employment data on persons below their minimum working age. 
In recent years, the ILO's Bureau of Statistics has worked to improve child labor data collection and reporting methods through the Statistical Information and Monitoring Project on Child Labor (SIMPOC). SIMPOC is assisting many countries in collecting comprehensive and reliable data on child labor and establishing a database on institutions and organizations active in the field of child labor, child labor projects and programs, industry-level action, and national legislation and indicators. With the technical expertise provided by the ILO, several countries have completed national child labor surveys and many others are in the process of doing so. ILO Child Labor Conventions Convention 182 Convention 138 The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles, which brought the League of Nations into being. It became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946. The ILO is a tripartite body made up of government, worker and employer representatives from 174 countries around the world. 
The ILO formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations, setting minimum standards of basic labor rights in the following areas: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labor, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues. In 1919, its first year of existence, the ILO adopted Convention No. 5 on the Minimum Age for the Industrial Sector. Since then it has remained a leading international forum for addressing child labor issues. For a detailed explanation of ILO Conventions and labor standards from the ILO web site, click here. Convention 182 On the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor On June 17, 1999, during its 87th Session of the International Labor Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the International Labor Organization (ILO) unanimously adopted Convention 182 on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. The United States delegation to the ILO, consisting of employer, worker and government representatives, has been a leading proponent of Convention 182 from its inception. After working toward its adoption at the ILO, the U.S. clearly signaled its commitment to end the worst forms of child labor when it became one of the first countries to ratify the treaty. 
Convention 182 commits ratifying nations to take immediate action to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor. It defines the worst forms of child labor as:
Among other actions, Convention 182 requires ratifying nations to: remove children from abusive child labor and provide them with rehabilitation, social reintegration, access to free basic education and vocational training; consult with employer and worker organizations to create appropriate mechanisms to monitor implementation of the Convention; apply the Convention to children under the age of 18; take into account the special vulnerability of girls; and provide assistance and/or cooperate with efforts of other members to implement the Convention. 
Former President Clinton reaffirmed the commitment of the U.S. to ending abusive child labor worldwide when he traveled to Geneva to attend the June 1999 International Labor Conference, where Convention 182 was being considered for adoption by the ILO. Former President Clinton delivered an address before the ILO in Geneva, becoming the first U.S. President to do so. In his address, he stated: Today, the time has come to build on the growing world consensus to ban the most abusive forms of child labor—to join together and to say there are some things we cannot and will not tolerate. In expeditiously ratifying Convention 182, the U.S. provided an important boost to global efforts to end child labor. Of course, there remains much work to do, as Former President Clinton noted in his ILO address: Passing this Convention alone, however, will not solve the problem. We must also work aggressively to enforce it. And we must address root causes, the tangled pathology of poverty and hopelessness that leads to abusive child labor. Where that still exists it is simply not enough to close the factories where the worst labor practices occur. We must also ensure that children then have access to schools and their parents have jobs. Otherwise, we may find children in even more abusive circumstances. 
Under the leadership of former Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman, the Department of Labor has been at the forefront of the U.S. Government's efforts to eradicate child labor both in the U.S. and abroad. Former Secretary Herman made the fight against child labor a cornerstone of her tenure as Secretary of Labor, and was instrumental in promoting the adoption of Convention 182 by the ILO, as well as in securing its timely ratification by the U.S. At the International Labor Conference in Geneva in June 1999, she stated: Today, we are rededicating ourselves to our children. And we have a rare opportunity to take the struggle for the world's children to a new and higher level of commitment and action. We join together here in the absolute certainty that this is a challenge we can and must meet. Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment serves as the principal standard on child labor. This convention, passed in 1973 and signed by over 60 nations, defines the term "child labor" as any economic activity performed by a person under the age of 15. Signatories of the Convention are required to set a minimum work age standard of 15 years, although exemptions are included which permit countries whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed to initially specify a minimum age of 14 years. 
Convention 138 defines "light work" as work that is not likely to harm a child's health or development, or prejudice his or her attendance at school, and specifies a minimum age of 13 years (12 years for developing countries). Convention 138 also prohibits any child under the age of 18 from undertaking hazardous work--that is, work that is likely to jeopardize his or her health, safety or morals.
Other ILO Conventions on Child Labor Convention No. 5
Minimum Age for Industrial Sector (Revised), 1919 Recent Developments in Child Labor Until recently, child labor was not of major concern at either the national or international level, and the ILO was one of the few organizations addressing the issue. As of February 2001, 49 nations had joined IPEC, and many more are interested in participating. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), working with governmental and non-governmental partners, promotes universal access to quality and affordable primary education and the removal of children from exploitative work. In addition, international financial institutions such as the World Bank have begun to evaluate how their programs and actions may impact the situation of children.
In the spring of 1998, over 1,400 NGOs around the world showed their concern for the plight of child workers by supporting the historic Global March against Child Labor. This march traveled for six months through more than 60 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The goals of the Global March were to raise awareness about child labor issues, urge governments to ratify and enforce laws protecting children and providing them education, demand the immediate elimination of the most exploitative forms of child labor, promote positive actions by employers and consumers, ensure the proper rehabilitation of child laborers, and mobilize greater national and international funding to support education for all children. In June 1999, representatives of governments and workers' and
employers' organizations from 174 countries met at the ILO in Geneva to discuss
a new convention on the "Worst Forms of Child Labor." Convention 182 calls on
countries to take measures to secure the prohibition and immediate elimination
of the worst forms of child labor and requires governments to establish plans
of action aimed at prevention, rehabilitation, and elimination. The Convention
was unanimously adopted by delegates to the 87th International Labor Conference
and as of February 2001 had already been ratified by 61 nations.
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In the last several years, three large international
conferences focusing on child labor brought together representatives of
governments, workers, employers, and NGOs of industrialized and developing
countries in Stockholm (1996), Amsterdam (1997), and Oslo (1997). A number of
regional meetings and conferences also were held during this period. These
international and regional meetings resulted in a variety of action agendas to
combat child labor. 
