The Hague Global Child Labour Conference 2010 - Food ...

The Hague Global Child Labour Conference 2010 – Towards a World without ChildLabour, Mapping the Road to 2016 – Conference Reportand national level and strategically allying with other countries in the region todemonstrate what measures are useful.Minister A. K. Khander, the Minister of Planning of Bangladesh explained that child labourhad been eliminated from the ready-made goods (RMG) sector. He expressed theintention of the Government of Bangladesh to explore ratification of ILO ConventionNo.138 within a short time and work towards the goal of the elimination of the worst formsof child labour by 2016. He also mentioned that Bangladesh provides stipends for primaryand secondary students that improves access to education, giving special attention tovulnerable children.Minister Jamal Rhmani from the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training ofMorocco pledged to take the following measures: adoption of a national law againstdomestic work for children under 15, revision of the Hazardous Work List, protection ofvulnerable families, supporting NGOs working for the protection of children, conductingnational studies on areas of concern, including studies of vulnerable families. He alsoproposed to a host a regional follow-up conference for Africa in the near future.Mr. Khailash Satyarthi explained that the Global March is a movement of NGOs, unions,and others and pledged that it will labour towards the implementation of the Roadmap inover 100 countries. It pledged to strengthen the world-wide movement ofintergovernmental agencies and social partners. It will conduct a global campaign foreducation and specifically aim at getting the hardest-to-reach children into school. It willbe the biggest social people’s mobilization ever held. The “One Goal” campaign will beorganized at the time of the World Cup, with the aim of raising the awareness of a halfbillion people. A number of telephone servers have agreed to send text messages to theiradherents. Football players have agreed to promote attention to the goal of eliminatingthe worst forms of child labour and getting all children in school.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thanked (via videolink) U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for her activesupport for action against child labour. The UnitedStates was one of the first countries to ratify ILOConvention No. 182 and remains firmly committed.She stated that “The problem of child labour isentrenched, but it is solvable. So, to achieve our goalwe must work together to address the root causes,including inequality, inadequate access to education,no work or not enough good work for parents and poor enforcement of labour laws, all ofwhich perpetuates the cycle of poverty.” Eliminating the worst forms of child labour is partof the United States broader human rights agenda, and together with relevant partners, itaims to provide meaningful alternatives to child labour. On behalf of the United States,Secretary of State Clinton thanked the Dutch government and the ILO for hosting theConference and left the participants with the following words: “Ending labour exploitationis our shared responsibility and duty to the children of this world, each of whom deservesthe opportunity to achieve his or her God-given potential.”26