Conference on Zero Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016 Child Sharing experiences to achieve the goal

21-23 June 2010

Colombo

Address by Tine Staermose, Director ILO Colombo

Hon. Gamini Lokuge, Minister for Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion

Mr. Mahinda Madihahewa, Secretary to the Ministry of Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion

Ms. Narmilia Gunesekera, Secretary to the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs

Mr. Neil Buhne, UN Resident Coordinator for Sri Lanka Mr. Edward Heartney, Chief Economic & Commercial Affairs, Embassy of United States of America in Colombo

Ms. Pearl Weerasinghe, Addl Commissioner General of Labour, Ministry of Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion

Mr. K. Marimuttu Vice President, Ceylon Workers Congress

Ms. Meghamali Aluwihare, Employers’ Federation of Ceylon

Secretaries from other ministries

Ladies and gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure, on behalf of the ILO, to be here this afternoon, and to witness that the interest for combating child labour and its worst forms is very much alive in Sri Lanka. Honourable Minister, your presence here shows the high commitment of the government to address the worst forms of child labour.

Let me begin by highlighting the new ILO report, entitled Accelerating Action against Child Labour, which was launched by the ILO Director General, Mr. Juan Somavia last month amid growing concerns over the impact of the economic downturn. The report warns that efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour are slowing down and calls for a “re-energized” global campaign and effort to end the practice.

While the new ILO report does show a decline from 222 million to 215 million, or 3 percent (2004-2008), it is clear that there is a slowing down in the global pace of decline in child labour. Unless there is urgent and accelerated action to hasten the pace, the target that the ILO members had set for themselves of elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will not be met.

The South Asia sub-region is home to one-third of the world’s children and has more children at work today than the rest of the world combined. It has countries, such as Pakistan and India with the largest out-of-school child population in the world. Investments in education remain low in many of these countries.

But there are some good news too. The numbers in Asia are dropping faster than anywhere else. The Asia and Pacific region experienced a decline of 26 million from 122.3 to 96.4 million, i.e. 4 percent. Tripartite partnerships are extending and expanding and becoming more robust. The situation calls for a reenergised global campaign against child labour. The tripartite ILO must be a central actor and a powerful advocate in the worldwide movement. We need to extend and reinforce coalitions. Drawing on the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, ILO needs to continue to support our constituents to integrate child labour in national development agendas.

In an effort to accelerate action to meet the challenges, participants at The Hague Global Conference in May this year adopted a Roadmap aimed at substantively increasing global efforts to eliminate the worst forms by 2016. It is encouraging that the Sri Lankan delegation, headed by you Hon. Gamini Lokuge, Minister of Labour, participated actively in the Conference and pledged that Sri Lanka would join the global movement by putting in place and implementing its own Roadmap to 2016. This is why we are here today.

ILO has been glad to support the Ministry of Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion, the members of the National Steering Committee on Child Labour, including the Social Partners to conceptualize and prepare the Roadmap for Sri Lanka. There are two key ILO Conventions related to child labour, C 182 on the worst forms and C. 138 on the minimum age for admission into employment. Sri Lanka has ratified both Conventions and has over the last decade undertaken a wide range of activities towards the elimination of the worst forms and also identified 51 hazardous forms of child labour for which legislation is pending Cabinet approval.

The Roadmap that we are discussing today will therefore reinforce the commitment from the government, the social partners and civil society. It is a living document and we hope the momentum will create the platform for you to take the next steps which is to further elaborate the document with concrete action plans.

A significant element of the Roadmap is the highlighting of the mainstreaming strategy, which will encourage all key players to review their policies, programmes and budgets and integrate child labour issues as relevant to their respective mandates and work.

The ILO also encourages donor countries to contribute to this effort at a critical time in the Island’s history as it solidifies its foundations for peace and development, which cannot be achieved if children are involved in the worst forms of child labour. As always during transition phases, vulnerabilities emerge and in Sri Lanka, where hundreds of thousands are returning to their areas of origin and taking up education and livelihood, it is imperative to ensure that families are able to send their children to school or to vocational training so as not to have to send them to work and when that happens it is often away from the family, in urban areas. Despite these challenges, we believe that the 2016 target is highly feasible for Sri Lanka if the momentum is maintained, technical assistance is provided, national resources allocated or re-allocated, and the donor community makes timely contributions. In this respect let me thank the US Department of Labour for their gracious support to the ILOs work on child labour both here in Sri Lanka as well as globally.

Honourable minister, in conclusion, let me assure you that the ILO stands ready to support with technical assistance to keep up this momentum and help Sri Lanka achieve its goal as envisaged in this Roadmap.

Thank you