GENEVA - Germany today donated €800,000 to the ILO's work to combat child labour in the poorest parts of Central Asia, bringing their total contributions to IPEC since 2010 to $4.8 million. Estimates show that worldwide there are 168 million girls and boys trapped in child labour.
The project, under the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), will continue to be active in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and will now start work in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

The project will continue its work on -

• providing services to working children and children at risk, including through Child Labour Monitoring Systems (CLMS)
• mainstreaming child labour into national policy
• increasing knowledge of the worst forms of child labour
• enhancing the capacity of government officials, employers’ and workers’ organizations, and NGOs

Work focuses on strengthening National Action Plans on Child Labour in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and enforcing the Central Asia regional cooperation network on child labour issues. After extending activities in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the project will address initial needs in the region involving Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, expanding the knowledge base and strengthening linkages between child labour and social protection through child labour monitoring programmes led by basic social services. The training of workers’ and employers' organizations on their role in helping combat child labour will be part of the overall training package.