Washington -- Latin
America and the Caribbean have experienced the greatest
decline in child labor over the last four years of any region
in the world, according to a new U.N. report.
In a May 4 statement, the U.N. International
Labor Organization (ILO) said the decline is part of an
overall global decrease in child labor.
"The end of child labor is within our
reach," ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said on the
release of the report. "Though the fight against child
labor remains a daunting challenge, we are on the right
track. We can end its worst forms in a decade, while not
losing sight of the ultimate goal of ending all child labor."
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the
number of children at work has fallen by two-thirds from
2000 to 2004, with just 5 percent of children now engaged
in work, according to the ILO report.
The report presents Brazil as an example
of how countries can move forward in eliminating child labor.
Brazilian children working in the 5 to 9 age group fell
by 61 percent from 1992 to 2004, while among a larger 10
to 17 age group the rate fell by 36 percent during the same
period.
Another country with a significant decline
in child labor is Mexico, according to the report, The
End of Child Labor: Within Reach.
Because half of the children in Latin America
live in either Mexico or Brazil, "these reductions
are very important and testify to the fact that the overall
decline is a real trend," the report said.
The ILO said child labor, especially in
its worst forms, is in decline for the first time worldwide.
If the current pace of the decline was maintained and the
global momentum to stop child labor continued, the ILO said
it believes child labor "could feasibly be eliminated,
in most of its worst forms, in 10 years."
Somavia said that in 21st century, "no
child should be brutalized by exploitation or be placed
in hazardous work. No child should be denied access to education.
No child should have to slave for his or her survival."
The new report says the actual number of
child laborers worldwide fell by 11 percent between 2000
and 2004, from 246 million to 218 million.
The number of children and youth aged 5
to 17 trapped in hazardous work decreased by 26 percent
between 2000 and 2004, to reach 126 million in 2004 as opposed
to 171 million in a previous estimate. Among younger child
laborers aged 5 to 14, this drop was even more pronounced
at 33 percent.
The report attributed the reduction in child
labor to increased awareness of the problem, and the political
will to take concrete action to stop the abuse. Such action
includes working for poverty reduction and providing for
mass education that has led to a "worldwide movement
against child labor."
Despite the progress made in the fight against
child labor, the report also highlights important challenges,
particularly in agriculture, where seven out of 10 child
laborers work. Another challenge is the effect of HIV/AIDS
on child labor.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion
of children engaged in economic activities of any region
in the world. According to the report, the sub-Saharan's
convergence of high population growth, grinding poverty
and the epidemic of HIV/AIDS has hindered progress in the
fight against child labor. (See AIDS
in Africa.)
The U.S. State Department said in a July
2005 fact sheet that most international organizations and
national laws indicate that children legally may engage
in light work, but the worst forms of child labor are being
targeted for eradication by nations across the globe. The
sale and trafficking of children and their entrapment in
bonded and forced labor are particularly hazardous types
of child labor.
According to the fact sheet, forced conscription
into armed conflict is another brutal practice affecting
children, as armed militias recruit some children by kidnapping,
threats and promise of survival in war-ravaged areas. The
fact
sheet is available on the State Department Web site.
For additional information, see Human
Trafficking and the May 2005 electronic journal,
Ending
Abusive Child Labor. The United States is the world's
largest donor to the ILO's International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labor.
The full
text (PDF, 100 pages) of the U.N. report is available
on the ILO Web site.
Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
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