Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

ILAB Press Release: Labor Secretary Herman Lays Out Plans For Accelerated, Time-Bound Programs To Eliminate Worst Forms Of Child Labor [05/17/2000]

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Speaking at a conference on the elimination of international child labor, Labor Secretary Herman reviewed lessons learned from successful projects and outlined strategies for accelerated, time-bound efforts to erase the worst forms of child labor. The conference, presented by the Labor Department in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO), brought together government officials, labor and business leaders, former child laborers and representatives of nongovernmental organizations from around the world. ILO Director General Juan Somavia co-hosted the conference with Herman.

Participants included: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA); National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling; AFL-CIO President John Sweeney; and U.S. Council of International Business President Tom Niles.

"We gather here at this conference to learn and to plan so that together we can build a global solution." Herman said in her remarks to the conference. "We have evidence that we are on the right track. What we need to do now is apply the lessons learned, accelerate our program and set time periods for reaching specific project goals. I believe we can succeed. I believe the children of the world require us to succeed."

Herman announced that the Department of Labor will continue to work with the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) and other organizations. The new strategic direction will be to support efforts by countries willing to commit to comprehensive programs to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in their countries within specified time frames. Representatives from three countries which are initiating plans to undertake such stepped-up activities made presentations. They included Minister of Labor and Social Security Jorge Nieto Men‚ndez of El Salvador; State Minister of Labor and Transport Surendra Hamal of Nepal; and Deputy Minister of Labor and Youth Development William Lukuvi of Tanzania. Their countries will undertake time-bound projects designed to remove children from hazardous and abusive work, increase access to quality basic education and create viable alternatives to child labor for the families.

This new focus on time-bound projects was prompted by the success achieved in Labor Department-funded projects of IPEC and by the U.S. ratification last year of the ILO's Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

The department works with IPEC on the development and funding of projects. The elements of effective projects proved to be the following: removal of child laborers from abusive work situations; provision of education and training for former child workers; independent monitoring to prevent further recruitment of children; providing families of child workers with income-generating alternatives to child labor. Since 1995 the department has funded projects which have helped some 120,000 child workers and their families in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The U.S. leads the world in backing such projects. In 1999, the Administration, with broad bipartisan support in Congress, increased U.S. support for IPEC tenfold to $30 million. Congress and the Administration reaffirmed this support this fiscal year by again budgeting $30 million for IPEC.

In 1999, the member states of the International Labor Organization unanimously adopted the convention to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The convention enumerates such practices as slavery, the use of children in prostitution, pornography and drug trafficking and the employment of children in work likely to harm their health or moral well-being. The United States was one of the first ILO-member states to ratify the convention. The Senate gave unanimous advice and consent in near-record time and the President signed the ratification documents last December.

The Labor Department also released its sixth report to Congress on international child labor at the conference. The report focuses its analysis on child labor that prevents children from obtaining the benefits of primary education. The report recognizes the correlation between financial poverty and child labor, but also emphasizes that many children work because their opportunities to enroll in school are limited. It points out that a key to eliminating child labor is broadening the opportunities available to children and to their families, in particular by making schooling a valuable and affordable option.

Conference participants heard first-hand reports from three former child laborers from Bangladesh, Guatemala and Tanzania. The children are now in school rather than working.

present at the conference was a delegation of students from Brattleboro Union High School in Vermont. These students have studied the issue, prepared reports and have traveled to other area high schools to make presentations on child labor. Their current and most ambitious activity is to try to set up schools in Haiti and Nicaragua to help child workers transition out of work.

In addition, students from seven other schools around the U.S. participated in the conference via Webcast.

The full conference agenda and roster of presenters and panelists can be found at http://www.mac1988.com/dol and the archive of the conference Webcast at: http://www.webconferences.com/dol

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.