Minister of Development Cooperation Ms. Kari Nordheim-Larsen

Statements at the International Conference on Combating the Most Intolerable Forms of Child Labour by the Norwegian Minister of Development Cooperation

Amsterdam, Wednesday 26 February, 1997

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to address this conference on combating the most intolerable forms of child labour. In hosting such a conference, the Government of the Netherlands is taking an important step towards increasing awareness in the international community regarding the problem of child labour, and in particular, how to put an immediate end to its most intolerable forms.

The excellent ILO and UNICEF reports on child labour published in 1996, have in many ways defined the agenda for the discussion here in Amsterdam. These two publications show the complexity of the phenomenon and emphasize that no single actor, nor any single type of initiative can solve the problem. Our presence here in Amsterdam today demonstrates our willingness to search together for workable solutions to the the problem of child labour.

Not very many years back Norway had the same problems of child labour that many developing countries face today. By the turn of this century, Norway was among the poorest countries in Europe. The generation of my grandparents started to work at early ages. Through mobilization of trade unions and the labour movement and the development of a welfare society child labour was eradicated. Child labour in Norway was eradicated because of political will to do so.

Today, the commitment of the Norwegian Government is to participate in the eradication of child labour world-wide. We have produced a White Paper on development cooperation that stresses this commitment. Fighting child labour is both an ethical, social and economic imperative. Child labour is not only detrimental to childhood, but also to the child's development and future, and thus to society as a whole.

The Norwegian government fully see that child labour is a very complex issue and must be treated accordingly. The problem is however so serious that we must not allow this complexity to prevent us from dealing with this urgent problem. To solve or at least reduce the problem of child labour is both an objective in our development assistance policy and an obligation according to international conventions, in particular The Convention on the Rights of the Child which is now ratified by 189 countries.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines, children's right to citizenship for the first time. Through the adoption of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, children are recognized as legal subjects. All forms of work that are harmful or unsafe for children, or that compromise their full development in any way, are singled out in the Convention as requiring legal measures to ensure children's protection.

International agreements and instruments, and their implementation at national level, are important tools in eradicating child labour. In acknowledgement of this fact, our work here in Amsterdam will also encompass the initial discussions on the outline and contents of a new ILO instrument on the elimination of the most intolerable forms of child labour, to be discussed at the 1998 and 1999 International Labour Conferences.

The ILO constituents have decided to begin drafting a new convention on the most intolerable forms of child labour. This is an important task, but also a very difficult one. As always when new international standards are being laid down, a word of caution is necessary. The new instrument will aim at reducing the most extreme forms of exploitation of child labour. But this does not mean that sectors or forms of child labour not explicitly covered by it would become acceptable. We must not allow already existing international instruments to be weakened. Both the ILO conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child continue to be the basic instruments for defending the rights of the children, including their rights to be protected from abuse and exploitation. Our efforts to combat the most intolerable forms of child labour must be based on the already established agreements. This should be our point of departure when we discuss further action for eradicating child labour. We are all aware of how important it is to safeguard existing standards when drawing up new ones. I am therefore confident that we will be able to develop an efficient instrument that will be of real benefit to children.

The main purpose of international standards is to implement them. The main responsibility for implementation lay with the Governments. However, the role of the civil society should not be underestimated when it comes to translating norms into action. In the defence of the rights of the child, workers' and employers' organizations, as well as other non-governmental organizations, have a crucial role to play. There is ample evidence that legal prohibitions are not enough on their own to prevent children being exploited. While laws are necessary, we know that they are not sufficient unless they are firmly rooted in society. Broad alliances must be created between decision-makers and civil society to reach the common goal of eradication of child labour. The Amsterdam conference represents an important step forward in this regard, because it has brought together so many different actors committed to the problem of child labour.

The eradication of harmful work for children and adolescents will require the development of both long- and short-term policies. Today, we are debating how to put an immediate end to the most intolerable forms of child labour. This is an important step in the process towards eradicating child labour. I am pleased to inform you that the Norwegian Government will be hosting an international conference on child labour in Oslo in October. I hope that the Oslo conference will serve as a forum for following up today's discussion. I also hope that the Oslo Conference will result in a joint commitment to measures to eradicate child labour. By child labour I mean any work, paid or unpaid, that interferes with a child's full development and particularly with his or hers education.

Elimination of child labour requires integrated policy approaches and concerted action. The universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has made eradication of child labour a global responsibility. My Government's particular reason for raising this issue is to find ways in which Norway and other countries can actively contribute to speeding up the progress towards real implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international instruments.

The Oslo conference will focus on positive measures in development cooperation and other forms of international cooperation to progressively eradicate child labour. The approach will be to facilitate an open and constructive dialogue at national and international level, which will arrive at workable solutions to this serious problem. Various strategies for achieving this will be discussed, both in the long-term and the short-term perspective. The discussion here today on the role of legal instruments will be followed up in Oslo. However, the Oslo Conference will have a special focus on the role of basic education in the eradication of child labour. Both UNICEF and ILO, together with other multilateral organizations, increasingly view education as the most effective way to combat child labour. In this sense, policies aimed at making education a viable and rewarding option for all children are urgently needed. Education is a sword in the fight against involving children and adolescents in harmful work. Efficient, affordable, relevant and universal primary education is the sharp edge of this blade.

In conclusion, let me repeat that no single actor in the fight against child labour is able to solve the problem alone. Nor can it be combated on a single front. It is only by cooperating that we can make progress, only by fighting on several fronts at the same time that we will succeed. Together we have an obligation to act. Let us not disappoint those who are relying on us, let us join together to make this effort.

Thank you for your attention.