IPEC Action in Sri Lanka
Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 1997, a National
Steering Committee
(NSC) was created in order to monitor the National Programme on
Child Labour, which was launched
in 1997. The NSC comprises 20 members, most of them social partners,
including also the NGO sector.
The NSC is chaired by the Secretary of Labour.
Fifteen action programmes focusing on preventive measures, as well as the reintegration
of child workers
were implemented as part of the National Programme. IPEC engaged
in direct interventions for preventing
school drop-outs, trafficked children, including sexually exploited
girls, child domestic workers, and
plantation workers. Subsequently, six more action programmes got
off the ground to bridge the Phase
I approach, ending 2001, into Phase II, which is a more sector based
one.
In the past few years, IPEC in Sri Lanka has moved from rather small and, isolated
action programmes
to more integrated initiatives within defined areas such as child
trafficking, child domestic labour, and
children affected by war. In 2002, IPEC started supportive measures
for 1,000 ex-child combatants with
financial support from AusAid, Norad and the US Department of Labour
(USDOL). These activities have
been incorporated into vocational training and skills development
for children in the North-Eastern
Province, affected by war, which started at the beginning of 2004.
Overview of ongoing projects
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