Child labour plan unveiled in Delhi

An 18-point action plan to fight the use of child labour has been announced at an international conference in Delhi.

The Action Plan for Companies to Combat Child Labour was introduced by the campaign Stop Child Labour – School is the Best Place to Work at a conference run by the Global Trade Union Movement. Contributors to the action plan were trade unions, employers, non-governmental organizations and officials of the International Labour Organization, all based in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Irish Republic, Italy and the Netherlands. The targets are companies and their suppliers.

The campaigners will advise companies to assist suppliers employing children rather than dropping them altogether and will regard the fight against child labour as part of the wider effort to implement labour rights. Other stakeholders, including trade unions, NGOs and governments, will be encouraged to play a part.

Gerard Oonk, senior adviser to the campaign, said: ‘We will be actively approaching companies worldwide with the action plan, but also hope and expect others to do the same.

He warned: ‘Do not allow yourself, as a company, to be lured into thinking that child labour is a fact of life and that the company does something good by employing a child. Employing even one child perpetuates child labour, and child labour perpetuates poverty. Combating child labour helps to create more jobs and better wages for adults and thus also to alleviate poverty.’