Welcome to the ILO's Child Labour Website
The abolition of child labour and the protection of children and young persons against work of a character or under conditions unsuitable to their age have always been basic principles of the International labour Organization.
This is reflected in the Preamble of the ILO Constitution which includes "the protection of children" among the Organization's principal objectives, in the Declaration of Philadelphia, in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and relevant International Labour Conventions and Recommendations as well as in resolutions adopted by the International labour Conference and in decisions taken by the ILO Governing Body.
The ILO pursues a three-pronged approach in its campaign against child labour:
- the establishment of a body of international labour standards as a guide for national policy
and legislative action;
- technical assistance through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) to help countries, at their request, to develop and undertake practical action; and
- Insistence on the fact that development is a long-term and stable solution.
The 1999 Session of the International Labour Conference will consider the final adoption of a new Convention concerning the prohibition and immediate elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
The basic obligation of ratifying States would be to take measures to prohibit and immediately eliminate
the worst forms of child labour. The "worst forms of child labour" comprise:
- all forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of
children, forced or compulsory labour, debt bondage and serfdom;
- the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography
or for pornographic performances;
- the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production
and trafficking of drugs;
- work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to
jeopardize the health, safety or morals of children.