– 30 March 2001

Governments and employers world-wide are to be pressured
into taking stronger steps to eradicate child labour or else face
international criticism.

Cosatu is giving its full support to the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which is
launching a major two-year campaign today, 30 March, in a
fresh impetus to stop child labour. It will involve all levels of
the trade union movement and friendly non-governmental
organisations.

“Despite numerous promises by governments and
multinationals to stop child labour, to this day 250 million
children are working, 125 million of them have never seen
inside a class room, and while at work a frightening number of
working children are affected by numerous hazards. The
situation must be brought to halt”, says Bill Jordan, General
Secretary of the ICFTU.

The ICFTU’s 221 affiliates worldwide, including Cosatu, and
the International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) representing the
different industrial sectors will put pressure on governments
and multinationals to tackle the most hazardous and
exploitative forms of child labour as a priority. In a wide range
of sectors such as agriculture and domestic service children
have to work in appalling conditions risking their health as a
result of long working hours, and operating dangerous
machinery.

"We have had enough of words. We want action", says Bill
Jordan.

The ICFTU’s Campaign will mobilise action on all fronts:
trade unions from Brazil to Malawi, from Lithuania to
Bangladesh, will pressure governments to enforce laws on
education and to ratify and fully apply International Labour
Organisation (ILO) Conventions 138 and 182 (on the
minimum age to work and on the worst forms of child labour)
and to report on their full respect.

Companies identified as resorting to child labour will be
exposed and called on to abandon the practice at once, and
pay for the full rehabilitation and education of the child
labourers. International institutions will be invited to adopt non-
child labour clauses in their programmes and to join the efforts
by the ILO to address the scourge.

The ICFTU’s affiliates and the ITSs will kick off the campaign
by sending a petition around the world, calling on
governments, employers and international institutions to take
measures to get children out of work and into school. The
petition will be presented to representatives of governments at
the UN General Assembly Special Session on the Rights of
the Child in September 2001.

Sectors to be targeted include: agriculture, where more than
two-thirds (70%) of all working children are found,
manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and
hotels, domestic and other “personal services”. Campaign
Teams on all five continents will work closely together with the
ILO and NGOs and build community alliances to fight child
labour. To assess the impact of the campaign, the ICFTU will
carefully monitor their work.

The Campaign will also focus on providing decent jobs for
adults and respecting the right of workers to organise unions
and bargain for better wages and conditions.

“While millions of children are working, millions of adults are
unemployed or do not earn enough to make a living. That is
why we are convinced that one way to stop child labour is to
ensure that their parents have access to decent jobs, decent
wages and that their right to join and form unions is
respected”, added Bill Jordan.

The ICFTU will produce a wide range of campaign materials
which will be available on its website (http://www.icftu.org),
including posters, leaflets, the petition and various publications
and surveys on child labour.

For more information, contact:
Kagiso Molema, Cosatu Labour Market Policy Co-ordinator,
on 011 339 4911, or
ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0232 or +32 476
62 10 18.

Siphiwe Mgcina
COSATU Spokesperson

082-821-7456
339-4911