1. IPEC: Action against child labour: IPEC highlights 2008 (Geneva, ILO, 2009), pp. 34–36.
2. IPEC: IPEC action against child labour: Progress and future priorities 2006–2007 (Geneva, ILO, 2008), p. 59.
3. ibid., pp. 17–18.
65. Using the three-pillar approach of the Global Action Plan, this section of the Report identifies the major achievements since 2006.
Supporting national efforts
66. The ILO has supported national action against child labour in several ways. Specific actions high-lighted in the 2006 Global Action Plan included:
c mainstreaming child labour concerns in national development and policy frameworks;
c the development of knowledge, tools and cap-acity; and
c resource mobilization.
Time-bound Programmes
67. The commitment of governments is the driv-ing force for the elimination of child labour. The Time-bound Programme (TBP) approach, grounded in Convention No. 182, was designed to assist gov-ernments put in place a framework for coordinating their efforts. TBPs are a set of integrated and coord-inated policies and programmes to prevent and elim-inate a country’s worst forms of child labour within a defined period. They are, by definition, country-owned programmes, in which IPEC and other devel-opment partners play a support role. TBPs emphasize the need to address the root causes of child labour, linking action against child labour to national de-velopment efforts, particularly in the area of poverty reduction and free, compulsory and universal edu-cation. In 2008, 21 countries benefited from IPEC projects to support TBPs, pursuant to Article 7 of the Convention. This was slightly down from 2007 (23 countries) and somewhat up from 2005 (19).
TBPs are also major vehicles for integrating child labour into education and poverty reduction policies, and they are increasingly being expressed in terms of NAPs. In the course of 2009, IPEC developed guidelines for NAPs on Child Labour (government policy documents), and for mainstreaming child labour into national development efforts. These were validated through regional workshops with the full involvement of the social partners.
The 2006 Global Action Plan
61. The 2006 Global Action Plan called on ILO member States to pursue the effective abolition of child labour by committing themselves to the elim-ination of all worst forms of child labour by 2016.
Furthermore, all member States would, in the light of Convention No. 182, design and put in place ap-propriate time-bound measures by the end of 2008.
Towards this end, IPEC has promoted the design of National Action Plans (NAPs) and other anti-child-labour strategies and policies.
62. In pursuit of the above, the ILO would strengthen its efforts to develop coherent and com-prehensive approaches to abolishing child labour worldwide using a three-pronged strategy:
c supporting national responses to child labour, in particular, through effective mainstreaming of child labour concerns in national development and policy frameworks;
c deepening and strengthening the worldwide movement; and
c promoting further integration of child labour concerns within overall ILO priorities.
63. In pursuing this Global Action Plan, two im-portant factors were highlighted. First, all three pil-lars needed backing up by solid research, particularly regarding the relationship between child labour and other relevant aspects of the development process.
In this regard, the ILO was committed to becom-ing the centre of excellence of knowledge on child labour. Second, there needed to be a special focus and a greater effort in Africa where the least progress was being made.
ILO action
64. The 2006 Global Action Plan is a ten-year plan on how member States can, with ILO support, realize the 2016 target. It would not, therefore, be appropriate to follow a tick box approach under each heading and subheading of what was a very detailed plan. Rather, the aim should be to take stock of the extent to which there has been movement towards the ILO working “in a more focused and strategic way” as part of “a re-energized global alliance in sup-port of national action”.4 This broad aim was seen as the major challenge over the four-year period.
4. ILO: The end of child labour: Within reach, Report of the Director-General, International Labour Conference, 95th Session, Geneva, 2006, p. 90.
cent to 0.9 per cent.5 Experience showed that it was more efficient to strengthen local institutions to de-velop their own solutions rather than simply finance the withdrawal of children from work.
73. Consistent with these developments, Brazil ratified Conventions Nos 138 and 182 in 2001 and 2000 respectively. In response to the latter, Brazil established in June 2008 a new list of hazardous occupations prohibited to persons under 18 years.
The IPEC project in support of the TBP provided technical support to the consultation and drafting process. Brazil has also prepared a national plan of action in conformity with the 2008 target and set 2015 as the goal to eliminate the worst forms of child labour and 2020 for all forms, in accordance with the Hemispheric Agenda on Decent Work in the Americas, adopted at the ILO 16th American Re-gional Meeting in Brasilia in May 2006.
74. Many reasons have been put forward to explain this breakthrough in the fight against child labour in Brazil from the mid-1990s. One factor is the high level of social mobilization in Brazil with strong so-cial partners and a vibrant civil society committed to children’s rights. This includes the media, but also, for example, a rural workers’ union (CONTAG), that covers approximately 14 million agricultural workers and small farmers under collective agreements. A na-tional forum for the prevention and eradication of child labour (FNPETI) was established in 1994. It gathered representatives from a range of government ministries, trade unions, employers’ organizations and NGOs, in a “tripartite plus” approach. The new Con-stitution made eight years of education compulsory and this was extended to nine years in 2006. This has been accompanied by a conditional cash trans-fer (CCT) programme set up in 1996 – Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil (Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour, or PETI) – target-ing poor rural areas. Such schemes have radically cut child labour in states such as Bahia. An important feature of PETI is its after-school programme, Jor-nada Ampliada, which is working towards keeping children at school twice as long, thereby limiting the time available for work.6 Bahia is also promot-ing the child labour-free state as part of its Decent Work Agenda adopted in April 2007, when a Memo-randum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with the ILO. This is a pioneering initiative in crafting a subnational decent work programme incorporating child labour and education issues.7 It also linked to Policy choices key to eliminating child labour
68. Countries are not condemned to have child labour. They have options when it comes to policy and budgetary investments. Political commitment is therefore key to tackling child labour. This is one of the lessons from history and it is equally true today.
69. Below is a selection of national case examples that illustrate this central point. It is far from a com-plete list, but the countries set out below are posi-tive examples of how ILO technical cooperation has supported national commitment to end child labour through mainstreaming in key policy areas and at strategic levels.
Supporting national efforts in Brazil
70. Child labour remained an important feature of the labour market in Brazil and indeed appeared to be growing in intensity in the 1980s, in part due to the high rate of population growth. By 1992, chil-dren aged 5–17 comprised 29 per cent of the popu-lation. Additionally, the education system was often ineffective in keeping children at school.
71. However, the late 1980s also saw a growing re-sponse to the problem of child labour. The time was ripe for action following the restoration of democracy and the adoption of a new Constitution in 1988. Spe-cific legislation protecting children and youth followed in 1990 with the enactment of the Statute on Children and Adolescents. The Statute included ten sections on child labour and made it plain that child labour and the right to education were incompatible. The Stat-ute also established an implementation mechanism at local, municipal and national levels in the form of Councils for the Rights of Children and Adolescents.
72. It was against this background that Brazil joined IPEC in 1992 as one of the original participat-ing countries. The next decade saw impressive devel-opments as Brazil moved towards the tipping point in action against child labour. The activity rate for the 10–17 age group fell by 36.4 per cent from 1992 to 2004. The decline was sharper in the 5–9 age group, falling 60.9 per cent in the same period. In 1992, a total of 636,248 children were working, compared to 248,594 in 2004. The rate of child labour for the age group 5–15 decreased from 13.6 per cent to 5.8 per cent between 1992 and 2008. In the same period the rate for the age group 5–9 years dropped from 3.6 per
5. Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego au Brasil: Combate ao trabalho infantil no Brasil (undated).
6. IPEC: IPEC action against child labour: Highlights 2006 (Geneva, ILO, 2006), pp. 59–60.
7. See Governo da Bahia: Agenda Bahia do trabalho decente (undated).
the ending of child labour and establishing compul-sory education. Both goals were reaffirmed in 1979, the International Year of the Child, when the Indian government appointed a commission to inquire into the state of India’s children. In addition, the Min-istry of Labour established a special committee on child labour. During this period the ILO conducted a technical assistance mission in 1984, providing ad-vice on a global child labour strategy. Revised legis-lation was passed in 1986 in the form of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. A national policy and programme followed through the flag-ship National Child Labour Projects launched in 1987. These projects have had non-formal education at their core, making India one of the largest experi-menters in this area in the world.
79. The State of Kerala has become a model for the rest of India in how to promote social development.
Founded in 1956, Kerala set out to prioritize land reform, food security, education and health. Kerala’s performance in promoting mass education and gen-der equality has had profound implications for polit-ical mobilization and levels of child labour. Kerala has achieved universal literacy. Literacy is a founda-tional feature of Kerala’s political culture, and is cru-cial in the creation of public awareness and political mobilization around social goals.
80. Kerala has consistently spent a higher propor-tion of government expenditure on primary edu-cation than most other states, and most primary school-age children go to state-run or state-supported schools. Already in the early 1960s, Kerala was spending 35 per cent of state revenues on education, considerably more than richer states. This meant that by the early 1970s the work participation rate of chil-dren in Kerala was 1.9 per cent, as compared to the all-India figure of 7.1 per cent.9 Almost all children in the 5–15 age group attend school in all districts of the state. Kerala has achieved universal basic edu-cation, based on gender parity, and, without the spe-cific intention or any specially targeted efforts from the State government, seems to have reduced much of child labour.
81. What is special about this achievement is that Kerala was at one stage in its history known for se-vere caste discrimination. However, the social move-ment of the scheduled castes and tribes and other background classes placed a remarkable emphasis on universal education for all boys and girls. Moreover, Kerala was one of the poorest states.
the overall TBP of Brazil and creating models for the elimination of child labour for State-level action.
75. At the same time that Brazil was establish-ing the social programmes that ensured effective al-ternatives to child labour, it expanded its ability to monitor child labour and enforce child labour laws.
The Labour Ministry’s Mobile Inspection Units were critical here. They provided annual reports that were important inputs into child labour and education policy-making. These units have contributed to the virtual elimination of child labour in whole sectors, such as sugar cane production and harvesting.
76. Through this experience and political commit-ment to social equality and inclusion, Brazil has in recent years turned from solely a beneficiary of tech-nical support through IPEC, to becoming a provider of assistance to others through a South–South initia-tive that started with Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa in 2006. In December 2007, Brazil and the ILO launched an initiative to promote specific South–South technical cooperation projects and ac-tivities that contribute to eliminating child labour, which also embraces South Africa and India. Brazil has also been active within the Global Task Force on Child Labour and Education for All (GTF).
77. IPEC has acted as facilitator in the sharing of experiences within this emerging South–South forum, which offers a complementary model in inter-national cooperation expressed in Article 8 of Con-vention No. 182 and the United Nations process aimed at “Delivering as One”. At the 2009 Inter-national Labour Conference, the ILO and Brazil signed an MOU on promoting social protection worldwide that includes an important child labour dimension.
Supporting national efforts in India
78. In many respects, India has the most challeng-ing task to end child labour. Indeed, this has been recognized since the inception of the ILO and the first achievements in international standard-setting to combat child labour. The ILO has therefore a long association with India regarding technical assist-ance on combating child labour. Prior to independ-ence, the ILO provided assistance in the 1920s for the revision of legislation for the protection of chil-dren.8 Since independence in 1947, the Government of India and all state governments have advocated
8. M. Weiner: The child and the state in India: Child labor and education policy in comparative perspective (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1991), p. 79.
9. ibid., p. 175.
85. In addition, India has taken other major ini-tiatives that strike at the heart of child labour. In 1976, it became the first country in the South Asian region to enact legislation against bonded labour.
Child bonded labour remains one of the priorities for urgent action. For the first time the formulation of India’s 11th five-year plan was assisted by the set-ting up of a working group on child labour. In 2007, the Ministry of Labour also revised the list of haz-ardous occupations under the 1986 Act to include domestic work and work in restaurants and small tea shops in the schedule of occupations and processes prohibited to children under the age of 14 years.
Diving was added to the list in 2008, showing In-dia’s commitment to continuously revising the list of hazardous work.
86. India has recognized that decent livelihoods for families are also an essential component of child labour elimination. The national rural employment guarantee scheme that was launched at the begin-ning of 2006 provides 100 days of work to the rural poor and has been extended to all districts of the country since 2008. The scheme is the largest public works programme in the world, creating a safety net for more than 40 million poor households. The pro-gramme has been credited with directly reducing the incidence of child labour for both girls and boys.10 Additionally, a key law – the Unorganized Workers Social Security Bill – provides cover for the 93 per cent of the workforce, or around 400 million work-ers, depending on the informal economy.11 Taken together, these government initiatives are important indirect contributions to combating child labour in India. They are also reflected in the growing activity of the Indian trade union movement in the informal rural economy.
87. These actions have contributed to the decline in the incidence of child labour reported in India. The National Sample Survey estimated the total number of child workers of between 5 and 14 years of age to have been 13.3 million in 1993–94 and 8.6 million in 2004–05. They constituted about 6.2 per cent of children in that age group in 1993–94 and 3.4 per cent in 2004–05.12
88. Moreover, further development over the next four years of the “Convergence Model”, begun under INDUS and supported by ILO–IPEC with funding 82. For over 20 years, the Government of India
has committed substantial resources to eliminating child labour. India was one of the first six countries to join IPEC in 1992. Thus far, the Indian Government has launched approximately 150 projects to provide educational and other services to children withdrawn from hazardous work. Non-formal education (NFE) has been a staple of this national programme. The programme covers 250 districts and has a budgetary allocation of about US$130 million. Starting in 2004, the Government of India embarked on a major push to eliminate the worst forms of child labour under the INDUS (India–US) Child Labour Project, with ILO–IPEC and US Department of Labor sup-port. INDUS, a US$40 million initiative, covered 20 districts in four major states, plus Delhi with a target group of 40,000 children 9–13 years old.
83. INDUS brought together the two key depart-ments of labour and education. The Department of Labour had set up the National Child Labour Projects in areas of concentration of hazardous work.
The Department of Education had Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a much larger campaign to achieve univer-sal education from grades 1–8. Additionally, INDUS has supported vocational training for child labour-ers in the 14–17 age range that are withdrawn from work, thereby helping to fill a gap identified by the project in the Government’s response whilst also meeting the need for a trained workforce. INDUS has initiated two vocational models: through public–
private partnerships and through attachment with employers.
84. The INDUS project was a contribution, through a programme of transitional education, to achieving the national goal, first expressed in the In-dian Constitution (1950) that “the State shall en-deavour to provide, within a period of ten years … for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years” (art-icle 45). That goal has proven elusive and had to be repeatedly deferred and is now targeted for 2010. In 2005 there were two important initiatives in support of that goal. The Right to Education Bill (draft) set out the right to free and compulsory education for all children aged 6–14 years, which was also affirmed in the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, article 21A, adopted in 2009.
10. See V. Uppal: Is the NGRS a safety net for children: Studying access to the national rural employment guarantee scheme for young families and its impact on child outcomes in Andhra Pradesh (Oxford, Oxford University, Department of International Development, Young Lives Student Paper, May 2009).
11. T. Haque and S. Varghese (eds): The path of deliverance: Organizing and empowering rural informal economy workers (New Delhi, ILO, 2007), p. 18.
12. See: Report on conditions of work and promotion of livelihoods in the unorganized sector (New Delhi, National Commission for Enter-prises in the Unorganized Sector, Aug. 2007), p. 100.
forms of child labour, particularly trafficking, where Romania was part of a subregional effort. Within this framework, a considerable number of activities were developed, embracing 16 action programmes and 13 studies. Furthermore, 16 national tripartite consultations and workshops were conducted that have contributed to a growing awareness of the child labour issue and helped forge a national response to the problem.13
forms of child labour, particularly trafficking, where Romania was part of a subregional effort. Within this framework, a considerable number of activities were developed, embracing 16 action programmes and 13 studies. Furthermore, 16 national tripartite consultations and workshops were conducted that have contributed to a growing awareness of the child labour issue and helped forge a national response to the problem.13