III Global Conference on Child Labour
ILO launches Red Card to Child Labour campaign
PODCAST: The ILO is launching a global campaign to help the fight against child labour. The Red Card to Child Labour campaign comes in the wake of the Third Global Conference on Child Labour that just ended in the Brazilian capital, Brasília. The campaign wants to galvanise the public to take action and hopes to make the 2014 Football World Cup a global mobilization moment.
TRANSCRIPT: American singer and actress Cher has joined the ILO in holding up a red card to child labour.
The campaign was launched at the Global Conference on child labour in Brasilia. The venue added relevance to the powerful symbolism of the red card, since Brazil will also host the 2014 World Cup. In football, a red card signifies a player has to leave the field as punishment for serious misconduct.
Cher appeared in a video clip holding up a card bearing the words “Red Card to Child Labour.”
“According to the International Labour Organization, there are more than168 million child labourers around the world. They work in fields, mines and factories. Many are also exploited into prostitution and the drug trade. The ILO is working to free millions of these children, but they can use our help.”
The worldwide advocacy campaign has already received support from a number of artists and activists, including actors Tim Roth, Susan Sarandon and Wagner Moura.
The goal is to raise awareness about child labour and step up the fight against this worldwide scourge.
And the battle can be won. The ILO global estimates on child labour, released ahead of the Brasilia conference show the number of child labourers has gone down by one third over a decade. But there is still much to be done, says Constance Thomas, Director of the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.
“The last thing we want is the good news in this report to produce complacency, and for countries to think ‘OK, the fight is done.' There are still 168 million children in child labour. That is a huge number, even though it is substantially reduced. We can’t forget that. Eighty-five million in the worst forms. Forty-some million are under 14-years-old. This is still a drastic human rights violation and scourge.”
Ultimately, the goal is to take children out of the fields, the mines and the factories and give them a chance to receive an education and a future with dignity and hope.
Patrick Moser at the ILO
The campaign was launched at the Global Conference on child labour in Brasilia. The venue added relevance to the powerful symbolism of the red card, since Brazil will also host the 2014 World Cup. In football, a red card signifies a player has to leave the field as punishment for serious misconduct.
Cher appeared in a video clip holding up a card bearing the words “Red Card to Child Labour.”
“According to the International Labour Organization, there are more than168 million child labourers around the world. They work in fields, mines and factories. Many are also exploited into prostitution and the drug trade. The ILO is working to free millions of these children, but they can use our help.”
The worldwide advocacy campaign has already received support from a number of artists and activists, including actors Tim Roth, Susan Sarandon and Wagner Moura.
The goal is to raise awareness about child labour and step up the fight against this worldwide scourge.
And the battle can be won. The ILO global estimates on child labour, released ahead of the Brasilia conference show the number of child labourers has gone down by one third over a decade. But there is still much to be done, says Constance Thomas, Director of the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.
“The last thing we want is the good news in this report to produce complacency, and for countries to think ‘OK, the fight is done.' There are still 168 million children in child labour. That is a huge number, even though it is substantially reduced. We can’t forget that. Eighty-five million in the worst forms. Forty-some million are under 14-years-old. This is still a drastic human rights violation and scourge.”
Ultimately, the goal is to take children out of the fields, the mines and the factories and give them a chance to receive an education and a future with dignity and hope.
Patrick Moser at the ILO