BISHKEK-(ACTRAV INFO)The ILO' Bureau for Workers ‘Activities (ACTRAV) organised a two -day regional conference on the role of trade unions in Europe in the fight against child labour and forced labour from 19 to 20 July 2017 in Kyrgyzstan.

In her opening remarks, ACTRAV Director Maria Helena André stressed the key role played by trade unions in eradicating child labour and forced labour in the region. Ms André encouraged participants to intensify their efforts and speed up their actions to eliminate child labour in all its forms by 2025 and forced labour by 2030 in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals’ target 8.7.

Addressing the conference, Kyrgyzstan‘s Minister of Labour and Social Development Taalaikul Isakunova reiterated the government’s commitment to the fight against child labour in cooperation with social partners and the ILO through the country project supported by the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch.
 
With the support of ACTRAV, unions will prepare strategies and coordinate their policies to combat child labour and forced labour in the region.

The two-day meeting brought together participants from 15 countries in the region, international trade union organisations and ILO specialists. It is part of a range of regional meetings in preparation for the upcoming IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour which will be held in Buenos Aires from 14 to 16 November 2017.