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International Labour Conference Preview
ILO Conference to debate key issues:
Child labour, maternity rights on agenda
Child labour
Eliminating the "worst" forms of child labour:
Delegates to vote on final adoption
The spectre of girls and boys toiling in mines, being sold for prostitution, forced to work, exposed to hazardous substances and working conditions, and otherwise exploited has propelled the issue of child labour to the top of the international agenda. This article reviews the content of a proposed new Convention and Recommendation on the worst forms of child labour, and highlights major issues likely to dominate the debate at the International Labour Conference in June. *
The past two years have seen significant action against child labour both within and outside the ILO. In 1997, two high-profile international meetings were held in Amsterdam and Oslo. This interest continued and gained momentum in 1998; the Global March against Child Labour organized by non-governmental organizations, trade unions and human rights groups vividly demonstrated the growing worldwide movement and commitment against child labour.
The normative work of the ILO on child labour also advanced in1998. ILO member States showed a renewed determination in the fight against child labour by making the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour the focus of new standards. The 1998 Session of the International Labour Conference made substantial progress toward a new Convention and Recommendation on the worst forms of child labour by completing its first discussion and adopting the text of the proposed instruments.
The Conference will debate the instruments for a second time and vote on their final adoption in June, 1999.
The ILO's Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) is the fundamental international standard on child labour. The number of ratifications has been on the increase over the last couple of years. Currently, 72 States have ratified the Convention.
The ultimate goal of Convention No. 138 is the total abolition of child labour. However, it is widely recognized that this will take time. A growing international consensus has emerged stressing the need to immediately proceed with the abolition of "the most intolerable forms of child labour", namely the employment of children in slave-like and bonded conditions and in dangerous and hazardous work, the exploitation of very young children, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
These children cannot wait for longer term developmental issues to be resolved before they are freed from their intolerable situations. This has prompted the development of new standards on the worst forms of child labour to ensure that these forms are the priority for national and international action.