|
 Printer-Friendly Version
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 693-4650
The United States contributed $21.6 million this year to
the fight to end abusive child labor practices around the world, the U.S.
Department of labor announced today. The grants came from a record $30 million
appropriation, up from the previous year's meager $3 million.
"Millions of children are working in intolerable situations
and we made a decision to take the lead in the campaign to end the most abusive
practices," Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman, whose department manages the
grants program, said. "Today there is a global movement to eradicate this evil
and we can predict that the most abusive forms of child labor will be
eradicated world-wide."
Additional grant requests being processed will bring the
total to the full $30 million for the 1999 fiscal year. "Our grants go to
projects that will take children out of abusive work environments and get them
an education," Secretary Herman said. "But we also have to look at alternative
sources of income for their families. Most of the money working children make
goes to feed their families. Poverty is at the heart of these abuses."
The 1999 grants funded projects in 18 countries or regions,
including countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Another
$30 million will be contributed to new projects in 2000.
The Labor Department grants fund projects of the
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, which is part of the
International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations. The
department helps design specific projects and monitors administration and
progress of the operations.
The grants fund three types of projects: targeted programs
which address abusive child labor in a specific industry in a country or
region; statistical programs which produce the data necessary to define the
extent of abusive child labor in a country or region and to measure progress of
projects to eliminate the problem; and projects to support a country's efforts
to join the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.
To become a member of IPEC, a country must establish a
steering committee made up of representatives of government, labor and
business; a plan of action to eliminate child labor; and a memorandum of
understanding with IPEC.
From fiscal year 1995 through fiscal year 1998, the United
States committed about $8 million to the International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labor. The 1999 and 2000 appropriations had wide
bipartisan support in Congress.
A list of the FY1999 grants is attached.
USDOL-Funded IPEC Projects
FY 1999
(December 22,
1999)
Removing and Preventing Children from engaging in
Hazardous Work
Africa:
Trafficking of Children for Labor
Exploitation
in West and Central Africa
Asia:
Footwear in Indonesia, the
Philippines, and
Thailand
Fishing in Indonesia and the Philippines
Trafficking for Labor Exploitation in
Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka
(to be funded
soon) Soccer Balls in Pakistan (2nd Phase) (to be
funded
soon)
Latin America and Caribbean:
Child Domestics in Haiti
Fireworks in Guatemala
Coffee in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
Honduras, El Salvador, and Dominican Republic
Small mines in Bolivia,
Ecuador, and Peru (to be
funded soon)
Fireworks in El Salvador (to be
funded soon)
Garbage Dumps in Nicaragua (to be funded soon)
Commercial
Agriculture in Central America and
Dominican Republic (to be funded
soon)
Increasing Participation in IPEC
Africa:
National Program in Ghana
National Program in Nigeria
National Program in Uganda
National Program
in Zambia
Asia:
National Program in
Mongolia
Latin America and Caribbean:
National Program in
Haiti
Europe and Middle East:
National Program in
Romania
Measuring the Extent and Nature of Child Labor
Africa:
Child Labor Survey in Ghana
Child Labor Survey in Nigeria
Child Labor Survey in Uganda
Child
Labor Survey in Zambia
Latin America and Caribbean:
Child Labor Survey in Brazil
Child Labor Survey in Belize
Child Labor Survey in Costa Rica
Child
Labor Survey in Dominican Republic
Child Labor Survey in El Salvador
Child Labor Survey in Guatemala
Child Labor Survey in Honduras
Child
Labor Survey in Nicaragua
Child Labor Survey in
Panama
Europe and Middle East:
Child Labor Survey in
Romania
Awareness Raising
Asia-Pacific Seminar on Core
Labor Standards
Global Public Awareness and Education Campaign
(to be
funded soon)
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
| 
