JAPANESE

World Day against Child Labour

12 June

Red Card to Child labour

Japanese youth united
to change the destiny of trafficked children

This year's theme is Child Trafficking

ILO estimates that 246 million children in the world are engaged in child labour without being given enough opportunities to get proper education. In particular, the problem of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitations, worldwide victims of which is estimated each year to reach about 1.2 million children, is growing problem of global scale. Some of them work under conditions harmful to their health and deprived of basic freedom. Children in brick factories are engaged in heavy work exposed to the dust without going to school; scavenging children collecting usable materials from garbage are exposed to hazardous substances; trafficked children are sold to the brothels and trapped in prostitution or drug trafficking. To what extent do we, the Japanese people, know of this intolerable situation of those children exposed to various hazards, expression of serious infringement of human rights?

ILO launched World Day against Child Labour on 12 June 2002 as a way to highlight the worldwide movement to eliminate child labour. The theme of this year's World Day was child trafficking and the observance of the Day was seen in various parts of the world. On and around the World Day, in collaboration with 6 NGOs acting in the field of child labour issues, ILO Office in Japan organized a photo exhibition, "Red Card to Child Labour", for two weeks at UN Gallery (2-13 June) in Tokyo, and "Youth Workshop" on the theme of trafficking on 12 June.

About 150 young people participated in the workshop to discuss how they can contribute to the elimination of child trafficking. Photo exhibition, which displayed roughly 50 photos, including five photos taken by Ms. Mayumi Moriyama, Japan's Minister of Justice and Chairperson of the Japanese Parliamentarians' League on ILO Activities during her visit to the ILO child labour project in Cambodia in 2000, was highly popular attracting more than 600 visitors during the period.

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