Give girls a chance: End child labour:

World Day against child labour

The annual World Day Against Child Labour will be marked by events in several countries on June 12, amid growing concerns over the impact of the economic crisis on child labour and in particular girls.

For the World Day, the ILO will release a new report entitled ‘Give Girls a Chance: Tackling child labour, a key to the future,’ highlighting the exploitation of girls in child labour and warning that the crisis could force more girls out of education and into child labour.

The report by the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the International Labour Office (ILO) will provide the latest estimates on the number of girls in child labour and detail the exploitative forms of child labour facing them.

This year’s World Day also marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

World Day Against Child Labour 2009 Events World Day events will be held in some 50 countries across the world.

Events around the world will involve Governments, employers and workers, other UN organizations and Non-Governmental organizations, media events, awareness raising campaigns, cultural performances and other public events.

In Geneva, the ILO will mark the World Day with a plenary session of the International Labour Conference, between 3.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. on June 12. The session will be led by the ILO Director General.

Between 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. a children’s solidarity event will be organised jointly with the City of Geneva and the Geneva-based community organization Le Respect on the Place des Nations in front of the UN Office at Geneva.

At Geneva events, the “Haba na Haba Band” composed of young musicians from Kenya will perform. The band members are from the slums of Nairobi, but have developed their musical skills in a youth centre supported by the ILO-IPEC program.