Articles

Setting the terms of the child labour debate

01 August 2010

Though child labour has preoccupied the ILO since its first days, the practice remains a problem of immense social and economic proportions throughout much of the world. While there has been progress in reducing child labour over the last decade, the decline was uneven in different world regions and the global pace of reduction slowed between 2004 and 2008.
The global challenge of child labour: Going for the goal

01 August 2010

The global campaign against child labour – especially in its worst forms – is at a crossroads. From an optimistic projection just four years ago that the end of the worst forms of child labour was in sight, the most recent ILO report casts doubt on whether that goal can be reached by the target year of 2016. It calls for urgent steps to accelerate action against child labour. The key messages of the report were delivered at a Global Conference on Child Labour hosted by the Government of the Netherlands on 10–11 May in The Hague. The Conference adopted a new “roadmap” aimed at achieving the goals set in 2006. IPEC Director Constance Thomas examines achievements made and challenges that remain in the fight against child labour.

Domestic work is not for children

01 April 2010

Last November, the Government of Cambodia convened a national consultation on decent work for domestic workers. At the end of the meeting, government, workers’ and employers’ organizations in the country agreed on the need for a new international labour standard extending social protection to those who work in the homes of others. The following article by Bill Salter, Director of the ILO Subregional Office for East Asia, was adapted from an earlier version published in a local newspaper.

Future harvests without child labour

03 December 2007

The vast majority of the world’s working children are not toiling in factories and sweatshops or working as domestics or street vendors in urban areas. They are working on farms and plantations, often from sun-up to sundown, planting and harvesting crops, spraying pesticides and tending livestock.
The end of child labour: Millions of voices, one common hope

03 December 2007

The past decade has seen an unprecedented convergence of thought and action within the worldwide movement against child labour. In the 15th year of the ILO’s International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), World of Work looks at its achievements and its vision for future action. Alec Fyfe, IPEC Senior Child Labour Specialist, contributed to this article.