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ILO waves "red card"
at child labour
When a group of referees collectively raised a forest of red cards during the African Cup of Nations in Mali recently, nobody groaned. The red cards were against child labour and part of a new campaign to stop the practice.
BAMAKO, Mali - Until now, no one wanted to see a red card on the football field, signifying a major foul and expulsion from the game. A new campaign launched by the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) on 18 January at the 2002 African Cup of Nations here has changed all that.
The "Red Card to Child Labour" campaign is up and running, gathering support from football fields to government ministries. The new campaign against the use of child labour is symbolized by the red card handed out by referees for serious violations of rules on the soccer field.
"Child labour is neither a sport nor a pastime," said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia in a statement. "Child labourers work hard - on the farms, in mines and quarries, as domestic servants. Some are trafficked into slave-like conditions or prostitution. Millions are condemned to lifelong poverty and despair.
"Now, working hand-in-hand with the world's most popular sport, we hope to galvanize the global campaign against child labour with this potent symbol - the red card that means you're out of the game," the Director-General said.
A global campaign
The ILO aims to take its initiative worldwide to include the World Cup matches this year and in years to come. As senior officials of the Government of Mali, including Labour Minister Makan Moussa Sissoko, looked on, the ILO signed an agreement with the Confédération africaine de Football (CAF) and the Comité d'organisation de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations (COCAN) 2002, which launched the sports world's involvement in the Red Card campaign.
At the opening game, all referees expressed their support for the campaign by showing the red card before the start of the match. Already, national teams from Mali, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia and Niger have committed themselves to do campaigning.
"Events like these are designed to mobilize large audiences of people watching the games on television as well," said Alice Ouedraogo, Director of Policy Development and advocacy at IPEC, who spearheaded the campaign. "We have developed a campaign video, messages on child labour that can be shown on the big screens, the 'Red Card to Child Labour' song for broadcast by radio stations, banners, T-shirts and other products that can be used to draw attention to our goal of stopping child labour."
Besides this main campaign in Mali, there are ongoing national campaigns in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Togo and Zambia.
Among the supporters of the campaign was Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA, who underlined the commitment of the Federation to working against child labour, and the importance of using FIFA's channels to reach a large public. Mr. Blatter invited ILO officials to screen the campaign video at the World Football Cup 2002 in Korea/Japan.
The Red Card campaign aims to seize on the popularity of the African Cup of Nations 2002 and other football events to generate the widest possible public awareness of the harsh reality of child labour, and encourage people to support the global movement against it. The campaign adds a new, symbolic element to the global struggle against child labour, exemplified by the rapid ratification by over 100 countries of ILO's most recent labour standard, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).
While Africa today is home to some 40 per cent, or about 80 million, of the world's child workers, the continent has in many ways led the way in the struggle against child labour, especially in its worst forms. Of the 115 countries ratifying Convention No. 182, thirty are from Africa, including the first two ratifying states (Seychelles and Malawi).
Following the launch of the Red Card campaign in Africa, the ILO plans to pursue the initiative in Latin America, Asia and Europe. IPEC, which is running the campaign, is active in 75 countries, removing children from abusive child labour, providing them with rehabilitation and education, and providing their families with income-generating possibilities.