Eliminating child labour - a moral cause and a development challenge

In recent years there has been a dramatic change in attitudes about child labour. Denial and indifference have given way to acknowledgement, outrage, and a readiness to tackle the problem effectively.

Ridding the world of child labour will require a significant commitment of resources by the international community. Yet, globally, over two decades the economic benefits of eliminating child labour would exceed the costs by nearly seven times. Eliminating child labour is unquestionably a sound financial investment.
(Juan Somavia is director-general of the International Labour Organization)

by Juan Somavia

Child labour is a pervasive problem in today's world, but it is not a hopeless one. The evidence is clear that when individuals make a commitment, when communities mobilize, when societies come together and decide that child labour is no longer acceptable, great progress can be made toward the goal of ensuring that children are not denied a childhood and a better future. However, it's rough going.

Building consensus - and bringing real change - remains an immense challenge internationally, nationally and in the families and communities where child labour exists.

The common sense objective is to provide kids the opportunity of a sound education and parents a fair chance at a decent job. This is an economic issue for countries and families - but it is also an ethical one. The fight against child labour is ultimately a battle to expand the frontiers of human dignity and freedom.

One out of six children in the world - an estimated 246 million children - are involved in child labour. Think about it. The number of child labourers is roughly equal to the entire population of the United States! These children are not doing odd jobs or light work. Their work is a matter of survival for them and their families. They are girls and boys who are engaged in work that is damaging to their mental, physical, and emotional development.

Three-quarters of these children are exploited in what the International Labour Organization (ILO) calls the worst forms of child labour. They work in stifling factories, unsafe plantations, death trap mines, and other hazardous sites. Some have been sold and trafficked into slave-like conditions. Others are forced into the living nightmare of prostitution or sent to the bloody frontlines of war.

Since its foundation, the ILO has stood against the scourge of child labour. In recent years, through our work and collaboration with many committed individuals and institutions, we have seen a sea change in attitudes toward child labour. Denial and indifference have given way to acknowledgement, outrage, and a readiness to act. A growing popular movement against abusive labour practices in general has been accompanied by a new understanding of ways in which the problem of child labour can be tackled effectively and sustainably.

The approach of the ILO's constituents - governments, employers, and workers - has been to work on the basis of partnership and trust at the community and production levels to build within countries the commitment to sustainable action for the elimination of child labour.

In 1999, we approved a key instrument in this struggle, Convention 182, which commits countries to take immediate action to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour. Over the past six years, 153 countries have ratified it, making it a national commitment and now the most rapidly and widely ratified convention in ILO history.

During the same period, there has been an impressive increase in ramifications of Convention 138, the minimum age convention that was adopted in 1973. This convention states that the minimum age for work should not be less than the age for completing compulsory schooling and sets a number of minimum ages depending on the type of employment or work. Ratification, however, is just the beginning.

A growing number of countries have sought the ILO's help to take effective action against child labour. The ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), which was founded in 1992 with six participating countries and major funding from Germany, has now expanded to include operations in 80 countries funded by 30 donors including employers' and workers' organizations.

The generous support and committed engagement of the United States Congress and executive branch have helped the ILO dramatically expand its efforts to end child labour. We have given priority to the worst forms of child labour with the goal of the eventual elimination of all forms.

Support is offered for developing and implementing measures aimed at prevention, withdrawing children from hazardous work, preparing them for schooling, and providing alternative income sources for parents.

Our work includes efforts to combat child trafficking in West Africa, to rehabilitate street children in Eastern Europe, to remove children from mines and stone quarries in Latin America, and to provide a better future for children who were weaving carpets or stitching soccer balls in South Asia.

A growing sense to act

Around the world, people are joining a growing community of conscience to act. A genuine worldwide movement against child labour has emerged. Child labourers themselves are making their voices heard, for example, through grass roots movement such as the Global March against Child Labour. Young students are mobilizing in solidarity.

New alliances are emerging among employers' and workers' organizations, government agencies, and civil society organizations. These alliances have taken sector-specific action in several multinational industries - such as tobacco and cocoa growing, and the manufacture of sporting goods - in which the strengths and advantages of ILO's tripartite partners and civil society reinforce global efforts to combat child labour.

In addition, 19 countries are now involved in programs to end child labour within a specified period. These are foundations on which to build but much more needs to be done across the board.

We need to match national and international decisions with greater development cooperation targeting the reduction of child labour. We must sustain the international and national debates and awareness-raising efforts; identify and map hazardous child labour in different sectors and situations; build institutional capacity to deal with child labour at all levels; and put in place effective, independent and credible inspection and monitoring systems.

The problem of child labour cannot be solved in isolation. Projects alone are not enough. Where poverty breaks up families, economic and social policies must come together to help protect the dignity of family life.

For example, free, compulsory quality education up to the "minimum age" - which varies depending on the country and nature of the work - for entering into employment is a key element in the prevention of child labour. But, with budget restrictions everywhere, many countries can't afford to do so.

The international community must back the efforts of countries willing to take comprehensive steps through development cooperation programs, access to markets and policy advice that they receive from international organization.

Of course, ridding the world of child labour will take a significant commitment of resources. A recent study by the ILO estimates that eliminating child labour over two decades would yield an estimated US $5.1 trillion in benefits for both developing and transitional economies where most child labourers are found. Globally, benefits would exceed costs by nearly seven times.

Each extra year of schooling stemming from universal education to the age of 14 results in an additional 11 per cent of future earnings per year for a young student who stays in school.

Eliminating child labour is unquestionably a sound financial investment.

Integral to ILO agenda

Eradicating child labour is an integral part of the ILO's agenda for the world of work called the Decent Work Agenda, which seeks to promote opportunities for all women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

This development framework is centred on stimulating the investments that crate the opportunities for productive work; with standards and rights at work, social security health protection and safety nets and voice and representation for working people. The effective abolition of child labour is one of the principles at the heart of our agenda. We promote decent work because when you ignore the quality of work for parents, you open the door to child labour.

Every country in its own circumstances can define a reasonable threshold below which no family should fall. Decent work is not a universal standard, not a minimum wage. ILO conventions, which are ratified voluntarily by each country, constitute a sound social floor for working life.

We can take heart that already there has been a great deal of progress achieved in knowledge and experience, as well as an impressive worldwide movement to combat child labour.

The global challenge remains daunting, but I believe that, working together, we can meet our common goals: decent work for parents, quality education for children, and real opportunity for young people.

Eradicating child labour truly is a moral cause and a societal challenge. If we summon the will to do it, we can bring hope to children all over the world and affirm the inalienable right of every child to have a childhood.

(The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of policies of the U.S. government)

(Economic Perspectives May 2005)