The exploitation of children is an affront to every standard of decency professed by civilized society. The cruelty it inflicts is insupportable. It is a gross waste of human potential. Child labour must be stopped, now.

The Amsterdam Conference, unanimous in its condemnation of this evil, calls for immediate action to eradicate it. The Conference urges all countries, whatever their level of development, to launch without delay a time-bound programme of action to eliminate child labour, and concurrently to bring about the immediate suppression of the most extreme forms of exploitation - slavery and practices akin to slavery, forced or compulsory labour including debt bondage and serfdom, the sale and trafficking of children, the use of children in prostitution, pornography and the drugs trade, and their employment in any type of work hazardous to their health, safety or morals. There must be a total prohibition of work by the very young and special protection for girls. Crime committed against a child anywhere must be made a crime everywhere.

The fight against child labour requires a firm expression of political will at the highest level, the designation of a responsible national authority and concerted action by governments, employers' and workers' organizations and civil society united in a coherent programme focusing on removal, rehabilitation and prevention.

On the international plane, we invite governments in all regions to re-examine their obligations in respect to international labour standards and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We urge donor countries to increase their assistance to both national and international initiatives. We ask all countries to cooperate in establishing a global mechanism for the exchange of information, experience and statistical data which will enable "best practices" to be identified and progress to be monitored.

The Conference calls on all countries to participate creatively in the preparation of the new international standards on the elimination of the most intolerable forms of child labour, scheduled for adoption in 1999 by the International Labour Conference and, by means of speedy ratification and effective application, ensure that these standards will have a decisive influence on law and practice throughout the world.

Child labour is a universal evil demanding solidarity on a global scale. The time was never more propitious for the challenge to be met by the international community, mobilizing all the resources at its command.