Video News Releases

June 2013

1. 

   Malawi: Finding solutions for child domestic workers

   12 June 2013

   Millions of children around the world, mainly girls, are working in households other than their own, doing domestic work such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and looking after other children and the elderly. According to a new report on domestic work from the International Labour Organization, it's estimated at least two-thirds of these children are working under the legal minimum wage, or in conditions that are hazardous. Often, the working relationship between the child and their employer is ambiguous at best, exploitative at worst. But solutions are possible, even in a place where using children as domestic workers is a long tradition.

2. 

   Communites Tackling Child Labour in Malawi

   12 June 2013

   In Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, half the population lives under the poverty line, and it's estimated one and a half million children are in child labour. But according to the International Labour Organization, a new, community based approach to tackling the child labour problem is showing promise to eradicate it in areas where child labour has long been a part of daily life.

June 2012

1. 

   Ending Child Labour by 2016: the Continuing Challenge

   12 June 2012

   There has been progress in the effort to eliminate the worst forms of child labour worldwide. As a result of international commitments and the ILO convention to eradicate the worst forms of child labour, tens of millions of children around the world are out of work and in school. But as the world gets closer to the deadline in 2016 for the eradication of child labour around the world, the pace of progress is slowing.

June 2011

1. 

   India: Working Together to End Hazardous Child Labour

   10 June 2011

   Around 115 million boys and girls under the age of 18 are involved in hazardous child labour. Making a change is possible. In India both employers and trade unions are actively involved in the fight against child labour, especially when it comes to keeping children out of hazardous work.

June 2010

1. 

   India: Fighting Child Labour with School Lunches

   11 June 2010

   In the past 10 years, more than 30 million children have been taken out of child labour. But according to the ILO's Global Report, today an estimated 215 million children are still working, on the streets, in farm fields, in some of the worst and most hazardous forms of work. Integrated national policies to protect children, get them out of work and into school have made an impact, moving the international community closer to its goal of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016. One way forward can be found in India, and the world's largest school lunch program.

May 2010

1. 

   Uganda: HIV Orphans Off the Streets and into School

   10 May 2010

   Africa has the highest incidence of child labour in the world, further complicated by high rates of HIV. But some Sub-Saharan African countries like Uganda have been world leaders in getting children out of child labour and into primary school through a National Child Labour Policy that specifically addresses HIV.

2. 

   ILO Reports on Child Labour Globally

   07 May 2010

   Amid growing concerns over the impact of the economic downturn, the International Labour Office (ILO) warned in its new Global Report "Accelerating Action Against Child Labour" that efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour are slowing down and called for a re-energized global campaign to end the practice.

September 2009

1. 

   India: Puppets Versus Child Labour

   28 September 2009

   The art of puppetry has a profound place in India’s deep tradition of storytelling. For centuries, puppets have not only been used to entertain, but to educate, inspire, and even heal the sick and the disabled. Now this ancient Indian art form is being used in a new way, to fight the plague of child labour in India.

2. 

   India: Finding a Voice in the Silk Industry

   28 September 2009

   When families have no source of immediate income, often the only answer the families seem to have is sending their children to work. And just as the parents themselves were sent to work when they were young, the plague of child labour passes on from one generation to another. But in India’s silk industry, now it is the mothers who are breaking the cycle of child labour. At the same time, thanks to a remarkably successful initiative, the mothers of the silk industry are finding their own voices; in their families, in their communities, and in changing society for the better.

3. 

   India: Fighting Child Labour with Street Plays

   28 September 2009

   Like every complex problem, the causes of child labour are many: social, economic, cultural, and political factors all play a role. But perhaps the best way to help people understand and do something about the plague of child labour is to reach out to them on their own terms, using stories taken from real life. In India, this unique approach is having remarkable results, and it is playing out on the streets of hundreds of villages.