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-----Original Message-----
From:   Global March Against Child Labour [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Sunday, June 03, 2001 6:49 PM

Subject:        Global March Position Paper for the UN Special Session on Children

GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

POSITION PAPER FOR THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ON
CHILDREN

1 JUNE 2001


The UN Special Session on Children is a critical event for the
future of all children.  Assembling so many of the world's leaders
for the sole purpose of planning for the next generation, it
is an opportunity to ensure that every child alive and every
child still to enter this world will enjoy the full range of
rights that they are guaranteed by birth.  It is a crucial chance
to focus the world's attention on the situation of children and
to mobilise the political will, resources, and public involvement
needed to make a fundamental change in their lives.

Over ten years ago, many Heads of State gathered in New York
for the cause of children.  At the conclusion of the first World
Summit for Children they undertook a joint commitment and made
an urgent universal appeal - to give every child a better future.
 They agreed that childhood should be a time of joy and peace,
of playing, learning and growing, but they recognised that for
millions of children violence, exploitation, poverty and injustice
have meant a childhood of suffering.  Together they made a solemn
commitment to give high priority to the rights of children, to
their survival and to their protection and development.

During the 90's the world witnessed steadily growing momentum
in the drive to protect children's rights.  The UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child was rapidly ratified by almost all
the countries of the world and today stands as the most widely
endorsed human rights treaty ever.  This Convention is the legally
binding commitment of state parties to ensure to the maximum
extent possible the survival and development of the child, to
provide the child education, to protect the child from economic
exploitation, to give the child a chance to rest and play, and
to protect many of the other rights essential for a happy and
healthy childhood.

But many of these promises have gone unfulfilled.  Since the
conclusion of the World Summit for Children, over 800 million
girls and boys have been exploited as child labourers, many in
the most abusive of conditions.  Countless children more have
been denied the basic education they deserve.  In a decade of
a global economic boom, it is difficult to comprehend how these
and other fundamental rights of children could have been so systematically
violated.  After proclaiming at the World Summit that "there
can be no task nobler than giving every child a better future",
where is the nobility in the results?

This Special Session is, however, a unique chance to learn from
the mistakes of the past decade and chart a new course.  The
Global March Against Child Labour calls upon the delegates of
the Special Session to act now with the vision, courage and determination
needed for the children of the world.


WE CALL FOR A DECLARATION AND PLAN OF ACTION THAT:

UPHOLDS THE RIGHTS OF ALL CHILDREN

We believe that the rights guaranteed in the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child are the basic minimum that the world
owes to all children.  The outcome of this Special Session should
in no way compromise these rights or support a view that in this
harsh world some children will just have to get by without their
fundamental rights.  The responsibility of the Special Session
is to mobilise the resources and political will needed to ensure
the rights of all children in the shortest possible timeframe.

IDENTIFIES CHILD LABOUR AS AN URGENT PRIORITY FOR ACTION

Affecting 250 million children today, child labour is a massive
problem confronting the world community.  The practice of child
labour is a critical link in the chains that spread illiteracy,
suppress women, spur overpopulation, intensify discrimination,
and perpetuate poverty.  The Special Session and the Global Movement
for Children both must identify child labour as a major area
for worldwide action.

PRESENTS A CLEAR, EFFECTIVE AND TIME-BOUND PROGRAM TO END CHILD
LABOUR

The outcome of the Special Session should give hope to all, including
especially child labourers themselves, that something will now
be done to end their exploitation and restore their childhood.
 The delegates to the Special Session should commit to a package
of measures that will, in the shortest possible timeframe, protect
all children from economic exploitation.  We recommend that governments:

* Form National and Local Commissions for the Elimination of
Child Labour, where they do not yet exist
* Develop National Programs of Action for the Elimination for
Child Labour, in consultation with child labourers, their families,
and other concerned groups
* Give priority to child labourers and their families in national
programs to combat child poverty
* Within a year, set national and local timetables for the elimination
of child labour
* Within a year, fix a minimum age or minimum ages for admission
to employment, as required by Article 32.2 of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, and guided by ILO Convention 138
* Ensure that such minimum ages for employment are widely known
and effectively enforced
* With immediate effect, stop the illegal recruitment of new
child labourers and instead offer decent work to adults or older
teenagers
* Improve the legal framework and change social practices to
prevent the exploitation of children as domestic servants
* Investigate and prosecute commercial and household employers
responsible for the exploitation and abuse of children
* Promote the ethical production of goods which, in particular,
do not exploit children and provide fair working conditions for
adults
* Identify and reach out to children at special risk of exploitative
labour
* Pay special attention to the vulnerable situation of working
girls
* Guarantee the proper rehabilitation and education of all children
relieved of exploitative work
* Improve the data collection and monitoring systems on child
labour, include questions about child labour in national census
surveys, and register the birth of all children by no later than
2004
* Inform, sensitise and mobilise public opinion and concerned
groups, including children and their families, to join in the
efforts against child labour

ADDRESSES THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR AS A MATTER OF URGENCY

The Special Session should go beyond just recognising that millions
of children are trapped in the worst forms of child labour, and
actually commit to helping those children escape.  Action must
be taken with the same urgency and concern we would feel for
children of our own family.  We can no longer accept the exploitation
of children in slavery, prostitution, armed conflict, criminal
activities, hazardous work, and other intolerable conditions.
 As specific steps to address this crisis, we call upon governments
to:

* Take all possible measures to prevent the entry of children
into the worst forms of child labour, including public awareness
programs and social mobilisation efforts
* Before the end of this year, determine the types of work which,
by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out,
is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
* Within a year, set national and local timetables for the elimination
of the worst forms of child labour, and commit the resources
needed to achieve these targets
* Within a year, expand and improve the legal and social protection
machinery so that it can realistically address the worst forms
of child labour
* Ensure that national and local laws effectively protect children
from the worst forms of child labour
* Vigorously investigate and prosecute commercial and household
employers keeping children in the worst forms of child labour
* Make a commitment in principle and practice to provide the
necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of
children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation
and social integration
* Ensure access to free basic education, and wherever possible
and appropriate, vocational training for all children removed
from the worst forms of child labour
* Expand the scope of international technical cooperation to
effectively address the transnational dimensions of child trafficking,
child prostitution, the use of children in crimes, and other
worst forms of child labour
* Whenever possible, consult with children involved in the worst
forms of child labour when undertaking actions that will affect
them

PROMOTES A STRONGER INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK TO PROTECT
CHILDREN

The UN General Assembly should use the occasion of the Special
Summit to strongly promote the universal ratification and implementation
of international legal instruments to protect children.  The
outcome of the Special Session should specifically and emphatically
call upon all states to:
* Ratify ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour,
and implement it in conjunction with ILO Recommendation 190
* Ratify ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission
to Employment, and implement it in conjunction with ILO Recommendation
146
* Ratify and implement the optional protocols on the involvement
of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography

FULLY RECOGNISES THE IMPACT OF CHILD LABOUR ON YOUNG CHILDREN'S
HEALTH

The strategies and actions designed to promote healthy lives
for children should include a clear recognition of the devastating
impact of child labour on children's health.  The use of children
for endless hours of strenuous, repetitive, and hazardous work
can cause serious injury, stunted growth, chronic illness, and
sometimes even death.  At a time when children can grow by leaps
and bounds, to put them to hard labour is a crime.  The elimination
of child labour should be identified as a vital component of
the efforts to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition
and poor health.

REAFFIRMS EVERY CHILD'S FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO QUALITY EDUCATION
AND SEEKS TO PROVIDE THIS RIGHT TO ALL IN THE SHORTEST POSSIBLE
TIMEFRAME

The right to quality education is one of the most fundamental
rights for all children.  Education plays a critical role in
determining a child's present and future life.  In the coming
years, this UN Special Session should be marked as a turning
point when humanity finally accepted in earnest its responsibility
to provide quality education for all.  To this end, we call for:

* An immediate end to all financial barriers to education, including
admission charges, book fees, and uniform expenses
* Urgent action to end the exclusion of girls from schools
* Vigorous efforts by education systems to find the children
who are not in school and to design programs to include every
child in education
* The development of gender sensitive education policies specifically
directed at the integration of child labourers into school
* Involvement of children, parents, and the community in improving
the education system
* A ban on all forms of corporal punishment in schools
* Provision of financial assistance as needed for the schooling
of children at risk of child labour
* Expanded and improved programs for early childhood care and
education, especially for children at risk of child labour

PLEDGES THE RESOURCES REALISTICALLY NEEDED TO ENSURE THE RIGHTS
OF ALL CHILDREN

We finally call upon all government to ensure that the promises
made at the Special Session on Children are backed by the required
resources.  In a world that generates $30,000,000,000,000 of
wealth every single year, it is absurd that young children must
work for their very survival, or that poor children must end
their education when they cannot pay minor fees.  The real test
of the world's commitment to children is if it will pledge the
resources needed for all children's rights.  We thus call for:

* First priority for children's needs in the budget setting process
at national, state, and local level
* Within three years, at least 0.1% of the GNP of developed countries
to be dedicated to official development aid exclusively for children,
with two thirds of this aid to be allocated for girls
* A commitment by governments to allocate at least 6% of GNP
for education, with two thirds earmarked for primary education
* A reaffirmation of the promise that no country serious about
achieving education for all will fail for lack of resources
* Implementation of a Global Initiative to mobilise and coordinate
additional resources for education and, within the next 5 years,
the conversion of at least 10 billion dollars of debt into resources
for primary education
* A commitment from the international community to support the
efforts of national governments to set ambitious but achievable
targets for the progressive elimination of child labour
* The donation by socially responsible businesses of at least
1% of their profits to meet the basic needs of children
* Guarantees from international financial institutions that their
national interventions will support the fundamental rights of
children, reduce child labour, and promote quality education
for all.

We believe that in adopting and implementing the above recommendations,
the world community can make an enormous difference for the children
of today and tomorrow.  These recommendations are not so simple,
cheap, or easy, but they are nothing less than what is required
to ensure the rights of all children. Now the world must show
its courage and determination to make a world truly fit for children.