12to12 to End Child Labour - The Community Portal

The grassroots popular movement: "Global March Against Child Labour" will host and organize an International Conference on Child Labour in Agriculture with support from the ILO. The conference will be held on 28-30 July 2012 in Washington D.C., USA.

The Global March is built on solidarity and constructive and coherent collaboration between civil society, trade unions and teacher organisations. It has been a long-time partner of the ILO, particularly its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), and other organisations, including UNICEF, and has an established reputation worldwide as a respected child rights organisation. 

Agriculture is the sector where most child labourers can be found. Worldwide 60 percent of all child labourers in the age group 5 - 17 years work in agriculture, including farming, fishing, aquaculture, forestry, and livestock. This amounts to over 129 million girls and boys. The majority (67.5%) of child labourers are unpaid family members. In agriculture this percentage is higher, and is combined with very early entry into work, sometimes between 5 and 7 years of age. However, agriculture  remains a sector where limited progress has been made to address child labour and where programmes are still under-developed.

The Conference will be attended by key partners from UN,  inter-governmental, employer, farmer and trade union organisations, civil society organisations and others to  share knowledge and capacity, build and strengthen innovative and strategic partnerships and establish a  strategic platform of action and follow-up, including for Roadmap 2016 and National Action Plans on Child  Labour.

For more information, visit the Global March website: http://www.globalmarch.org/

Did you know that  around the world, agriculture is the sector where by far the largest share of child labourers is found – nearly 60 percent?

In fact, more than 129 million girls and boys aged 5 to 17 years old work in the agriculture sector, which includes crop and livestock production as well as foresty and fishing activities. Agriculture is one of the three most dangerous sectors in terms of work-related fatalities, non-fatal accidents and occupational diseases, and approximately 59 percent (or 70 million) of all children in hazardous work aged 5–17 are in agriculture.

It is important to note that not all activities that children participate in within this sector are considered as "child labour." Some participation in family farm activities can teach children valuable life skills, build pride and self-esteem, and contribute to family income and livlihoods. Children, should not, however, participate in hazardous activities that may harm their safety, health, morals or developmental well-being. 

To tackle the pressing issue of child labour in agriculture and support decent work initiatives for youth in this sector, the ILO developed a global, inter-agency advocacy team of labour and agriculture stakeholders. Since 2007, the International partnership for cooperation on child labour in agriculture (IPCCLA) has brought together the ILO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), (formerly) the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF). 

IPCCLA supports collaboration between labour and agriculture stakeholders to better address child labour in agriculture. Knowledge exchange and policy collaboration between labour and agriculture organization are key to ground policy and legislation on child labour to the rural economy. Collaborating with ministries of labour, ministries of agriculture, departments of fisheries and forestry, agricultural extension services, farmers' organizations and cooperatives, agricultural producer organizations and agricultural research bodies, agricultural workers unions, bring together very different areas of technical expertise and understanding of child labour issues. A multidisciplinary perspective provides innovative solutions to promote child labour elimination and decent work for adults as part of sustainable agriculture.

Specifically, the IPCCLA aims to:

• promote cooperation and programme and policy coherence on child labour among the Partners, especially at national level
• mainstream child labour into existing activities of agricultural organizations and help raising awareness on how child labour elimination contributes to achieving organizational mandates of agricultural organizations;
• promote action and cooperation to improve rural livelihoods and alternative income-generating activities, and to ensure that children do not carry out hazardous work in agriculture;
• promote opportunities for decent youth employment in agriculture and in rural areas.

Are you interested in learning more about child labour, youth employment and decent work in various agriculture sub-sectors? If so, visit the FAO-ILO Working Together webpage - "Food, Agriculture and Decent Work" - which is continually updated with new information and IPCCLA activities:  http://www.fao-ilo.org/fao-ilo-child

Fishing is one of the most hazardous occupational sectors, particularly for developing children and adolescents. Worldwide, it is estimated that 132 million girls and boys work in the agriculture sector, which includes children working in fisheries and aquaculture. 

This sector contains various hazardous activities. Activities can range from dock work, hauling and carrying heavy nets, maintaining vessels, cleaning and processing fish, line fishing, diving, selling fish, as well as many others. These tasks may involve long hours, extreme environmental exposures, hauling heavy loads, use of sharp tools, night work and psychosocial stressors. In addition, many children who work aboard large fishing vessels spent long periods of time away from their families and from school. Girls tend to be more often involved in post-harvest work, while boys mostly undertake work related to catching fish. Therefore, hazards may be quite different for girls and boys in this sector due to the gender division of labour. 

Most experts agree that child labour in fishing is a significant problem. However, information gaps exist in terms of the best practices in addressing this pressing issue. 

For this reason, the ILO and FAO have developed a draft document specifically aimed at addressing child labour in this sector, entitled: "FAO-ILO Good Practice Guide for Addressing Child Labour and Fisheries and Aquaculture: Policy and Practice." This document aims to help policy makers and government authorities tackle this growing danger for vulnerable children worldwide. The two organizations are currently seeking feedback on this document as a final version is scheduled to be published later this year. 

This document is currently available for public comment until April 30 2012. All feedback can be sent to Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spambots. Es necesario activar Javascript para visualizarla . More information can be found at the FAO media center: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/117475/icode/