GENEVA (ILO News) - The world's fundamental international standard on the worst forms of child labour, ILO Convention No. 182 (1999) has been ratified by 27 governments 1 in its first year, racking up more ratifications than any other ILO Convention during a comparable period, the International Labour Office announced today. The Convention will come into force on 19 November of this year.
Speaking in advance of a reception within the International Labour Conference for delegates from the ratifying countries, the ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, applauded the willingness of so many ILO member States to expedite ratification and reiterated his intention to make the abolition of the worst forms of child labour, "a global cause."
He said that "this rapid pace of ratification is evidence of the growing support for global action against child labour, particularly its worst forms and gives us hope that the elimination of this scourge will become a reality for millions of children who face exploitation today".
The reception, which is open to the press, will honour those countries that have ratified and seek to speed universal ratification of this core ILO Convention. It will be held on the 11 th floor of the ILO building from 11:00-13:00 hours on Wednesday 7 June.
Convention No. 182, adopted at the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 1999, is likely to garner as many as 12 new ratifications before the end of the current session of the International Labour Conference on 15 June. Many more ratifications are in the pipeline.
Only one other ILO Convention, No.105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour, has come anywhere near this pace of ratification, receiving, in the first year after its adoption, 17 ratifications.
Convention No. 182 and its accompanying Recommendation No. 190 identify the worst forms of child labour as those which have a debilitating effect on the health, morals or psychological wellbeing of children and are likely to severely impede a child's normal growth into adulthood. These activities include work in dangerous industrial activities such as mining, or illegal activities such as prostitution, pornography and drug trafficking, work in extreme conditions of heat or cold, or work that involves exposure to hazardous substances and chemicals.
The Convention requires States to ban such activities and to design and implement programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour as a priority. Both instruments were unanimously adopted by the 87 th Session of the ILC on 17 June 1999 and complement another international standard on child labour, including Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age (1973) which is now ratified by 90 of the 175 ILO member States.
Via its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) launched in 1992, the ILO has played a positive role on fostering interest and support for this new Convention. Of the 27 countries which have ratified the Convention so far, 17 are associated with IPEC's 90 country alliance, which includes donors, participating countries and preparatory countries.
The new Convention is beginning to have a concrete impact on the lives of working children. Not only is it prompting policy and legislative changes, but, more importantly, it is leading to concrete action.
In Indonesia for example - the first country in Asia to ratify the Convention - intensified concern about the worst forms of child labour led, amongst other activities, to the creation of a High Level Committee to combat child labour on the fishing platforms (Jermals) - one of the more horrendous forms of child labour present in the country. 2 Under the auspices of IPEC, a project has got underway with the goal of withdrawing and rehabilitating some 2 000 children working for the Jermal industry in selected areas in North Sumatra.
In Brazil the Programa de Erradicacao do Trabalho Infantil (PETI) was expanded in 1998 as part of the lead-up to the ratification of the Convention to withdraw 120 000 children from some of the worst forms of child labour in the country, including work in charcoal sites, tea plantations, sisal production, quarries, sugar cane plantations and mines.
In Africa where the child labour phenomenon is the most widespread in relative terms (80 million children in 1999), the adoption of the new Convention has led to an unprecedented expansion of IPEC activities. In addition to on-going national programmes, activities are underway in Kenya and Tanzania to remove children from coffee and tea plantations. In a number of West African countries, programmes are being developed to combat child trafficking, abuse of children in domestic labour and the use of child soldiers.
IPEC is also conducting statistical surveys and action-oriented research aimed at obtaining updated quantitative data and qualitative information on all forms of child labour, including the worst forms.
IPEC has recently made a serious commitment to developing strong partnerships with other agencies and bodies dealing with child labour. As a result, a joint research programme with UNICEF and the World Bank headquartered in Florence, Italy at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, was recently established to develop new strategies for understanding children's work and its impact.
Contributions to IPEC have significantly increased following the approval of the Convention. Significant contributions by the United States and many other donors have nearly tripled the operational size of the Programme allowing it to expand activities in under covered areas and regions, such as the Caribbean and Africa.
1 Belize, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, Finland, Ghana, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Malawi, Mauritius, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Qatar, Rwanda, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovakia, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States.
2 Jermals are dangerous platforms made of vertical planks of wood erected from the bottom of the sea and projecting above the surface, where they are covered with horizontal planks to provide working and accommodation ara/platform for the fisherboys and men. Children are confined to jermals for periods of 3 months and more and subjected to physical, mental and moral risks and abuse.
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