GENEVA (ILO News) - What is the projected cost of eliminating child labour worldwide? How will global society benefit - especially developing and transitional economies?

For the first time, these and other questions are answered in a new ILO study entitled "Investing in Every Child: An Economic Study of the Costs and Benefits of Eliminating Child Labour" prepared by the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).

This new report will be launched in Geneva on 3 February 2004 with at press briefing at 2:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) in Room III of the Palais des Nations by Frans Röselaers, the Director of the ILO's Child Labour Programme and Peter Dorman, an expert on the issue and the key author of the report.

Copies of the report will be available to the media in hard copy and PDF format through ILO offices in Abidjan, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva, Lima, London, Manila, Moscow and Washington. An executive summary of the report is available in Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. A press release will be available as of Monday 2 February. Video B-Roll of child labour images and interviews with ILO experts will also be available from the ILO Department of Communication.

All media materials are under embargo and not for publication before 2300 GMT Tuesday, February 3.

For more information, contact communication@ilo.org.