Child labour monitoring (CLM)

What is child labour monitoring?

One of the most potent means of addressing child labour is to regularly check the places where girls and boys may be working. Child labour monitoring (CLM) is the active process that ensures that such observation is put in place and is coordinated in an appropriate manner. Its overall objective is to ensure that as a consequence of monitoring children and young legally employed workers are safe from exploitation and hazards at work. The active scrutiny of child labour at the local level is supported by a referral system which establishes a link between appropriate services and former children in child labour.

CLM's principal activities include regularly repeated direct observations to identify children in child labour and to determine risks to which they are exposed, referral of these children to services, verification that they have been removed and tracking them afterwards to ensure that their situation has improved.

CLM is based on national child labour legislation and the establishment of a self-sustaining process to combat child labour. In essence, CLM is a way to mainstream action against child labour at the level of the local government where child labour occurs and where actual services, such as schooling, are made available for girls and boys.

CLM is also closely linked to the provision of basic education and the protection of young workers from hazards. It directly supports the implementation of the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) and the ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138). In fact, Article 5 of Convention No. 182 calls for the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for monitoring the provisions of the Convention.

Why is CLM useful?

Information generated by CLM on working girls and boys - who they are, where they come from, what hazards they are exposed to - helps policy-makers at all levels know where the problem lies so they can take action accordingly.

CLM can be used as a programming strategy around which a set of social service activities can be built. It can also be used as an information base for national action plans against child labour through which different services (education, health, advocacy, etc.) can be provided.

How does CLM contribute to the fight against child labour?

As part of the fight against child labour, CLM helps to:

• Identify the worst forms of child labour;
• Provide better working conditions for girls and boys above the minimum age;
• Remove younger children from child labour;
• Offer to children better alternatives for their future;
• Strengthen the commitmment and involvement of communities in the fight against child labour;
• Improve the knowledge and capacity of authorities (such as labour and school inspectors) and social service providers to address child labour.

Information on the main elements and characteristics of child labour monitoring can be found in the Child Labour Monitoring Resources Kit.