[child-rights] World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June 2006

***Find out more about the World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June 2006:
http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/day-against-childlabour.php

 
This year's International Labour Conference will also focus on global
activities against child labour. On 9 June, the Conference Plenary will
discuss the ILO's new Global Report on child labour (Note 1), including a
special event highlighting the progress made in eliminating child labour
in countries like Brazil, Tanzania and Turkey. ILO Online reports from
Turkey where the EU recently committed 5.3 million Euros to build national
capacity for the eradication of the worst forms of child labour in line
with ILO Convention No. 182.


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ADANA, Turkey (ILO Online) - Kader is 8 years old. She has two brothers
and two sisters. With her father being jobless and her mother almost
blind, Kader used to work with her elder sisters and brothers in cotton
picking to eke out a living for their family.

With the support of the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination
of Child Labour (IPEC), Kader and her 12-year-old brother Selahattin
registered with the social support centre established by the programme.
Six weeks later, the IPEC project coordinator convinced the parents to
enroll Kader and Selahattin in a primary boarding school.

At first, her mother would only let Kader's brother go to school: "Kader
is my eyes, and I can't do anything without her," she said, but finally
she made a sacrifice for the sake of her child.

Kader is one of thousands of children who have been withdrawn from work
and enrolled in school since 1992 when Turkey became one of the original
six countries undertaking direct action to combat child labour under the
IPEC programme.

Since then, more than 100 action programmes carried out over the last 12
years have reached approximately 50,000 children.

"Sixty per cent of these children have been withdrawn from work and placed
in schools. The remaining 40 per cent have benefited from improved working
conditions and health, nutrition and vocational training services.
Furthermore, approximately 25,000 families have received counselling
services and assistance. The objectives of the programme are coherent with
national policies and objectives and reinforce existing national
structures," explains Gülay Aslantepe, director of the ILO Ankara office.

 
Good practices in combating child labour 

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On 9 June, the Ministers of Labour of Brazil, Turkey and Tanzania, and the
workers and employers organizations of these countries, will present their
achievements and good practices in combating child labour at a round table
discussion during the International Labour Conference in Geneva.

The round table is part of the plenary discussion that day on the recent
ILO Global Report on child labour and worldwide activities related to
World Day Against Child Labour, under the theme: "The end of child labour:
Together we can do it".

The event will allow participants to share initiatives, models and
practices that have worked and to discuss future strategies.

Since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government
of Tanzania and the ILO in 1994, the launching of its IPEC country
programme in 1995 and the start of the first-ever time-bound programme on
child labour in 2006, Tanzania has registered significant achievements on
the policy front in addressing the problem of child labour. To date, some
40 IPEC-sponsored projects have withdrawn thousands of children from work
and provided them with education.

Turkey and Brazil joined IPEC in 1992 as two of the original six
participating countries. In Brazil, the next decade saw impressive
developments, as the country reached a threshold in the fight against
child labour. In 2004, a total of 248,594 children were working, compared
to 636,248 in 1992.

In Turkey, two national child labour surveys were conducted in 1994 and in
1999, respectively. A comparison of the results of the surveys showed that
the number of economically active children in Turkey dropped from 974,000
to 511,000. The country is planning to have a third National Child Labour
Survey in 2006.

In March of this year, the ILO launched with USDOL funding a project of
support to the Government's time-bound programme aimed at the eradication
of the worst forms of child labour in Turkey by 2015. The programme
focuses on enhancing the capacity of the Child Labour Unit (CLU) of the
Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) to deal with the issue.

Under the project, ILO experts will work in close cooperation with their
counterparts in the CLU in seven provinces to combat child labour, launch
awareness-raising activities and prevent the employment of children at
risk.

The "Eradication of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Turkey" project is
the first in the country targeting child labour with a direct financial
contribution from the European Commission. Last April, the Commission
committed 5.3 million Euros to build national capacity in Turkey for the
eradication of the worst forms of child labour. The project was officially
launched at a ceremony held in Ankara on 5 April 2006.

The project foresees the establishment of Provincial Programme
Coordination Offices (PPCOs) in seven provinces which will function as
social support centres. Among the 21 staff members there will be one
coordinator and two social workers in each PPCO in charge of conducting
relevant activities for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour
in that province.

"The prospect for success in child labour programmes in countries like
Brazil, Tanzania and Turkey is encouraging. There is a strong commitment
at the highest political and administrative levels and they serve as a
catalyst for the growing worldwide movement against child labour,"
concludes Guy Thijs, director of IPEC.