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World Day Against Child Labour 2008 ─ ILO says education is the “right response” to child labour

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    • The “Gateway School”, a way of eliminating child labour
      Education is a human right and a key factor in the reduction of poverty and child labour. Yet, over 70 million primary-age children are not enrolled in school and most of them are part of the 218 million children worldwide involved in child labour. The international community has committed itself, within the Millenium Development Goals, to ensure that by 2015 all children, boys and girls, complete a course of primary education. Special care has to be taken of children who are out of the school system, like Salimata, of Côte d’Ivoire…
    • Reaching the unreached: the child labour challenge in India
      “Every child counts…Over the last year, we have rescued more than 5,000 children from the streets of Hyderabad to enable them to regain their lost childhood”, says Leyla Tegmo-Reddy, ILO Director in New Delhi, India. The ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) has been striving to rescue and rehabilitate migrant working children in the age group of 5 to 14 years, saving them from being trafficked or from getting involved in drugs and crime. ILO Online spoke with the ILO Director in New Delhi and Rani Kumudini who is the Project Manager in Hyderabad.
    • Feature for World Day against Child Labour, 12 June 2008 – The road to school is a route out of child labour
      Asia-Pacific enjoys a reputation as a vibrant economic region, but it is also home to more working children than any other region in the world; an estimated 122 million children aged 5-14 years are compelled to work for their survival. Some try to balance school with their long hours of work, but millions of these children are not enrolled in school at all. Guy Thijs, Deputy Regional Director of the International Labour Organizations’ Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and former Director of the ILO’s global International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, reports from Thailand.
    • Feature for World Day Against Child Labour - From muddy fields to the classroom: a boy’s journey out of child labour
      The international community has taken significant steps in the eradication of child labour and the International Labour Organization has recognized that the end of the worst forms of child labour is within reach. Still, it is an uphill struggle and much remains to be done. On this year’s World Day Against Child Labour, the ILO is highlighting the role of education as the right response to child labour. The story of Rafaelito shows how.
    • Feature for World Day Against Child Labour 2008 – When “voceadores” learn to SCREAM: Giving a voice to education instead of child labour
      Education is often seen as an empowerment right, that can lift economically and socially marginalized children and youth out of poverty. Yet in some developing countries, education remains more of a luxury than a reality for many poor children, who are forced to work instead. This year’s World Day Against Child Labour is promoting education as the right response to child labour. ILO Online reports on one example from Bolivia.
    • Feature for World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June 2008 – Street children in Russia: Back to school, back to life
      The ILO has estimated that some 165 million children between the age of 5 and 14 are involved in child labour. Many of these children work long hours, often in dangerous conditions. Education provides a means through which economically and socially excluded children and youth can lift themselves out of poverty. ILO Online reports from the Russian Federation.

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  •  Video

    • Cameroon: The Challenge to Make Chocolate Child Labour Free -
      There are over a quarter of a million children who work in the cocoa plantations of West Africa. It's hazardous work, which exposes children to highly toxic pesticides. ILO TV reports from Cameroon, where the International Labour Organization has been working to eliminate child labour from cocoa production and help children return to school.
    • Schoolchildren show solidarity against child labour -
      Schoolchildren from Geneva and neighbouring France released balloons to mark World Day Against Child Labour. Earlier at the International Labour Conference the ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, spoke out against child labour saying: "It is our responsibility to fight child labour and ensure that every child has a good education - that first crucial step towards Decent Work."
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