To mark World Day against Child Labour on 12 June, the ILO Office for Japan and the Japan Parliamentarians’ League on ILO Activities organised a rally meeting on child labour at the Diet Members' Building in Nagata-cho, Tokyo, on 14 June. Singer Yoko Oginome, who has helped raise awareness of the ILO's activities, participated in the rally and performed the song entitled “Jewels – a song of love” to about 70 parliamentarians, constituents and others.

The rally was chaired by Mr Michihiro Ishibashi, Secretary-General of the Japan Parliamentarians’ League on ILO Activities, and was opened by Mr Norihisa Tamura, its president, who underlined that “child labour is one of the world’s most pressing issues, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, the food crisis, conflict and climate change”.

Guest speaker Mr Yoichi Fukasawa, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labour and Welfare, pointed out that “[c]hild labour is a serious issue that violates children’s rights, deprives them of their ‘childhood’ and hinders their healthy development”. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is also “committed to the eradication of child labour in Japan by ensuring it is prevented and contributing to the ILO", he added.

Ms Vera Paquetci-Perdigon, Director of the ILO’s Governance and Tripartite Principles Department, participated virtually from ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. She debriefed participants on the Fifth World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in May, as well as giving a detailed explanation of this year’s World Day against Child Labour initiatives. She was followed by Ms Yuka Iwatsuki, a representative of the accredited non-profit organisation ACE, who spoke on the current situation regarding child labour in Japan and abroad.

Ms. Oginome appeared in the latter half of the rally and talked about her visit to a junior high school in Fukuoka City on 10 June, saying: “I myself am a parent with three children, and I realise that it is important for children to know child labour is not only an incident far away somewhere else in the world but that it is also a relevant issue in Japan.

She performed “Jewels – a song of love”, her campaign song dedicated to fighting child labour through music, to enthusiastic applause from participants.

In his closing remarks, Mr Shinichi Takasaki, Director of the ILO Office for Japan, emphasised that “[t]he eradication of child labour by 2025 is a challenging task, but we must not give up”. He called for further cooperation from participating Diet members to help realise this goal.