GENEVA (ILO News) ─ World Day Against Child Labour will this year be marked by thousands of events in scores of countries around the world on 12 June with a focus on the need to improve access of children to education as the right response to child labour.
The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the International Labour Office (ILO) says its latest estimates indicate that of some 218 million child labourers worldwide, millions are either denied educational opportunities that would give them a better future or must balance work with education. IPEC says this may be due to the costs involved, because their families rely on them to work, or simply because there are no available school facilities.
To tackle child labour the ILO is calling on governments to provide:
For the World Day, the ILO will release a technical report on child labour and education based on surveys of child labour in 34 countries from all regions of the world.
At the same time, as part of the year-long campaign on “Gender equality at the heart of decent work”, the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality is highlighting the first theme of the campaign which is combating child labour through education with the slogan “Formula for progress: Educate both girls and boys!”.
World Day Against Child Labour 2008 Events
World Day events will be held in some 60 countries across the world. In Geneva, the ILO will mark the World Day with a plenary session of the International Labour Conference, between 10.00 a.m. and 10.30 am on 12 June. The session will be led by the ILO Director-General and will include a representative of UNESCO, the UN agency coordinating the Education for All process, and representatives of employers, workers and governments.
Between 14.30 and 15.30 there will be a public event organised jointly with the City of Geneva and the Geneva based community organisation Le Respect on the Place des Nations. In the presence of the President of the State Council of the Canton of Geneva, the Mayor of Geneva, senior ILO officials and International Labour Conference delegates, school children will present a giant canvas featuring their signatures to a statement to say no to child labour. Children will release balloons in solidarity with the child labourers around the world and donate favourite books, which will be made available by the ILO to children participating in ILO supported projects around the world.
There will also be a presentation by the leading Swiss company Caran d’Ache of a sculpture of a pencil with the slogan, Education: the right response to child labour.
Around the world, activities include:
A list of some of the main events planned is available on the World Day website: www.ilo.org/childlabour08
The ILO’s goal is the progressive elimination of all child labour worldwide. The worst forms of child labour, which include hazardous work, commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking of children and all forms of slavery, among others, should be abolished as a priority.
Note for the media:
Broadcast quality video material on child labour in different regions of the world is available to broadcasters by contacting the Department of Communication, Radio and TV unit on tv_radio@ilo.org for video materials.
Interviews can be scheduled via the ILO Department of Communication with experts in child labour. Please contact the ILO by phone or fax or request a list of contacts by email (communication@ilo.org). For more information, please contact the ILO Department of Communication in Geneva at Tel.: +4122/799-7912 or visit the IPEC website: www.ilo.org/childlabour.