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Efforts by companies to reduce under-age working have been partly
credited for the first measured decline in child labour across the
globe.
The International Labour Organization reports that the number of child labourers fell by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2004, from 246 million to 218 million. It now believes the worst forms of child labour – in the most hazardous occupations – can be eliminated in ten years.
The ILO says that the ‘marked’ decline is mainly the result of increased political will, poverty reduction strategies and educational projects, but adds that the efforts of companies, especially when in partnership with others, have begun to have an impact. It believes that companies are most effective when working together in sectoral initiatives – such as the tobacco industry’s End Child Labour in Tobacco coalition – rather than alone.
Geir Myrstad, project leader for the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, told EP that the private sector had played ‘a very important role’ in combating child labour, but that ‘it would be a good thing for companies to rationalize what they are doing and work in broader alliances, instead of having a company-by-company system.’
He added that multinational agrobusinesses in particular needed to be vigilant. Seven out of ten of the world’s child labourers work within the agricultural sector.
The International Labour Organization reports that the number of child labourers fell by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2004, from 246 million to 218 million. It now believes the worst forms of child labour – in the most hazardous occupations – can be eliminated in ten years.
The ILO says that the ‘marked’ decline is mainly the result of increased political will, poverty reduction strategies and educational projects, but adds that the efforts of companies, especially when in partnership with others, have begun to have an impact. It believes that companies are most effective when working together in sectoral initiatives – such as the tobacco industry’s End Child Labour in Tobacco coalition – rather than alone.
Geir Myrstad, project leader for the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, told EP that the private sector had played ‘a very important role’ in combating child labour, but that ‘it would be a good thing for companies to rationalize what they are doing and work in broader alliances, instead of having a company-by-company system.’
He added that multinational agrobusinesses in particular needed to be vigilant. Seven out of ten of the world’s child labourers work within the agricultural sector.
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