Blueprint for fight against child labor expected

By T. Sima Gunawan

OSLO (JP): An international conference on child labor, which opened here yesterday, is expected to provide a blueprint for individual nations to follow in their fight against child labor.

Norwegian Minister of Human Rights and Development Hilde Frafjord Johnson said in her opening address that the problem needs to be handled with an holistic approach, and that social and economic conditions related to the issue must be properly understood.

"The connection between child labor and the economic and social conditions of the child and its family must be at the center of any set of sustainable development policies," she said.

The four-day conference brought together about 350 participants from 40 countries, including 25 ministerial level officials, almost 100 delegates from trade unions, 20 child labor experts, and several child workers. Employers and representatives from various NGOs were also in attendance.

The event is organized by the Norwegian government in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the United Nation Children's Fund.

Johnson said that addressing child labor is not only a question of political decisions and appropriate legislation, but even more of fighting poverty and promoting positive social change.

"We need to address the problem both bottom up, through broad- based development, poverty eradication and social mobilization, and top down, through establishing political priorities and legal framework," she said, referring to the need of an holistic approach.

The conference is expected to adopt an "Agenda for Action", the blueprint that will form the basis for individual countries to combat child labor. Relevant legislation, however, will depend greatly on the countries' political will, which the conference has agreed so far is required to combat child labor and to make child labor unnecessary.

Assefa Bequelle, Director of the Working Conditions and Environment Department of ILO, said at the opening session that even though most governments are genuinely interested in dealing with child labor problems, they are faced with serious constraints, namely poverty.

"There is, moreover, the political reality that governments cannot easily or radically switch budgetary allocations from one priority to another ... There are, therefore, political rigidities which constrain governments," he said.

"Our view is that governments, if they have the political will, do have the means and the capability to think about the quick and effective elimination of child labor. The major crisis is the lack of political will."

ILO estimates that 250 million children worldwide are economically active, with about 120 million working full time. As many as 25 percent of children aged 5 to 14 years old are currently economically active. Between 37 percent and 38 percent of them work 40 hours or more per week, and between 34 percent and 68 percent work in hazardous conditions.

The problem becomes more serious not only in the number, but also in the nature of the work in which children are involved, Bequelle said.

"We are not saying that child labor is to be condemned, but it is just an admission of a reality, the social economic context, and at least the government should have the priority ... to eliminate the most intolerable forms of child labor," he said.

He referred to the most intolerable forms of child labor as being those in hazardous occupations and industries, slavery, debt bondage and child prostitution.

Bequelle said that child labor remains the last tragedy of the industrial revolution.

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