GENEVA - Their Majesties King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia visited the International Labour Organization (ILO) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Spain's cooperation with the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).
His Majesty the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, described the extent of child labour as "appalling", and called for it to be vigorously combated as part of the effort to give a "human dimension" to the process of globalization.
"More than 240 million children worldwide work daily instead of attending school. This is indeed an appalling figure", the King said during a speech given at a Special Session attended by government, employer and worker representatives.
The King and Queen of Spain, accompanied by the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, were welcomed by the Director-General of the ILO, Juan Somavia, with whom they met privately. The Chairman of the Governing Body of the ILO, Philippe Séguin, chaired the Special Session.
King Juan Carlos I recalled that Spain was a founder Member of the ILO, the oldest organization in the United Nations system, and that his country had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO in 1995 to support IPEC in its efforts to eliminate child labour, particularly in Latin America.
"We want to contribute, through programmes such as the one we are commemorating today, to making economic globalization a positive social force for all the people of the world", the King of Spain told the ILO. "Our aim is to ensure that the process of globalization does not become entrenched in economics and finance. We hope that it will also have a human dimension", he added, declaring that in a just society "there is no room for child labour, or forced labour, or labour carried out without adequate safety measures and health regulations. Neither, of course, can there be room for labour which discriminates against workers for reasons of sex, race, creed or nationality".