Main sections Governments' Initiatives Against Child Labour in South Asia ILO Action in South Asia Other Initiatives Against Child Labour in South Asia Download full text - PDF 710 KB See also Information Resources Subregion

Governments' Initiatives Against Child Labour in South Asia

Commitments to international standards

Many international treaties are relevant to child labour, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), and the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182). The latter explicitly commits governments to develop with urgency national plans of action to eradicate the worst forms of child labour, including debt bondage and trafficking. Despite the fact that none of the countries of the subregion has ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000), many of them refer to the given definition of trafficking in their National Plans of Action (NPAs).

International legal instruments against child labour, trafficking and forced labour include the following:

• ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), 1973;
• ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182), 1999;
• ILO Forced Labour Convention (No. 29), 1930;
• ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105), 1957;
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), 1989;
• Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000.

Ratification Status

Country ILO Convention No. 138 ILO Convention No. 182 ILO Convention No. 29 ILO Convention No. 105 UNCRC Bangladesh   India     Nepal   Pakistan   Sri Lanka

The subregional response ( 29 )

Concerted efforts have been undertaken at the subregional level to promote child welfare and combat the trafficking of children in south Asia. During the 11th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Summit, which was held in January 2002 in Kathmandu, the seven SAARC member States (Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives) signed the following two Conventions related to the protection of children:

• The SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating the Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution: The scope of this Convention is 'to promote cooperation amongst member States to effectively deal with various aspects of prevention, interdiction and suppression of trafficking in women and children; repatriation and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking, and preventing the use of women and children in international prostitution networks, particularly where the SAARC member countries are the countries of origin, transit and destination';
• The SAARC Convention on Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia: The purposes and objectives of the Convention are to 'unite the SAARC member countries in their determination of redeeming the promises made by them to the south Asian child at the World Summit for Children and various other national, regional and international conferences and successive SAARC summits; to facilitate and help in the development and protection of the full potential of the south Asian child, promote understanding and awareness of the rights, duties and responsibilities of the children and others, and to set up appropriate regional arrangements to assist the member States in fulfilling the rights of the child, taking into account the changing needs of the child'.

The signing of these two Conventions is seen as a milestone on the path to coordinated interventions against trafficking at the subregional level. The countries have committed themselves to develop a Regional Plan of Action and to establish a Regional Task Force against Trafficking.

For a decade, since the Summit in Colombo in 1992, the SAARC countries have moved towards this milestone through a number of resolutions. The Colombo Resolution ( 30 ) states in Paragraph 5 under the heading, 'Challenges', that child trafficking is one of the most urgent challenges in the region and that 'child trafficking particularly urgently calls for both bilateral as well as regional cooperation'. Four years later, in 1996 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, the Rawalpindi Resolution ( 31 ) was adopted. It calls for commitment from member States in the issues affecting children in the region. Similarly, the Declaration of the Ninth SAARC Summit ( 32 ) in Male, Maldives, in 1997, expresses grave concern at the trafficking of women and children and pledges action on the part of the member countries (Article 27).

However, the Conventions will only come into force when all seven SAARC member States have ratified them. Currently, only Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives have ratified them.

In addition, as a consequence of intense lobbying by NGOs in the subregion, the text of the Convention on preventing and combating the trafficking in women and children for prostitution should be reviewed by the SAARC members in order to broaden its scope. The definition of trafficking provided in the Convention does not address trafficking from a general perspective, but only focuses on prostitution.