An end to child labour

The conference to validate Sri Lanka's road map for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will begin on June 21, with the launch of the Global Report on Child Labour.

This conference will be held at the Queens Courts at Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel, Colombo.

More than 450 delegates from 80 member states of the International Labour Organization, meeting in the Hague on May 10 and 11 agreed on a global road map aimed at 'substantially increasing' global efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016.

In response to this global commitment, during this conference in the Hague, the Sri Lankan government representative, Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion Minister Gamini Lokuge pledged to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016.

The Government also presented a road map for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2016, which details a process of mainstreaming into State interventions the prevention, withdrawal, rehabilitation and reintegration of children who have been engaged in the worst forms of child labour.

While the lead Ministry in this issue is the Labour Relations and Productivity Promotion Ministry, all stakeholder ministries, district secretaries, provincial councils and law enforcement will need to come together in partnership with the international community to eradicate this particular form of abuse of Sri Lankan children.