Stepping up the fight against child labour

A large gap remains between the ratification of Conventions on child labour and the actions countries take to deal with the problem, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report marking the tenth anniversary of the annual World Day Against Child Labour. “There is no room for complacency when 215 million children are still labouring to survive and more than half of these are exposed to the worst forms of child labour, including slavery and involvement in armed conflict. We cannot allow the eradication of child labour to slip down the development agenda – all countries should be striving to achieve this target, individually and collectively,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. New estimates released on 1 June showed that some 5 million children are caught in forced labour, which includes conditions such as commercial sexual exploitation and debt bondage – and this is thought to be an underestimate. See full Article.

Forced labour: an EU problem

New ILO estimates show forced labour is a serious issue in the European Union. Many countries are adopting increasing measures to tackle the problem, but more is needed when it comes to identifying and prosecuting criminals. According to new and unique ILO estimates on forced labour and human trafficking in the European Union, 880,000 people are in forced labour in the EU Member states, which statistically equals 1.8 persons per 1,000 inhabitants.

• Out of the 880,000 forced labourers, 30% are estimated to be victims of forced sexual exploitation and 70% of forced labour exploitation.
• Women constitute the clear majority of victims (58%).
• EU citizens were involved in the majority of cases of forced labour exploitation reported in EU Member states. Other victims came from Asia, Africa and Central and South-Eastern Europe.
• Victims of forced sexual exploitation came primarily from the EU, Central and South-Eastern Europe, Africa, and to a lesser extent Latin America and Asia.
• Adults and children can also be forced into illicit or informal economic activities, including begging.
• Central & South Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States is the region with the highest prevalence of forced labour per 1,000 inhabitants globally (4.2/1,000 inhabitants). 13 out of 19 countries of this region are at the EU’s doorstep.

See full Press Release.

World Day Against Child Labour 2012: Human rights and social justice... let's end child labour

This year the World Day Against Child Labour will provide a spotlight on the right of all children to be protected from child labour and from other violations of fundamental human rights. In 2010 the international community adopted a Roadmap for achieving the elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2016, which stressed that child labour is an impediment to children’s rights and a barrier to development. World Day 2012 will highlight the work that needs to be done to make the roadmap a reality.
The ILO’s Conventions seek to protect children from exposure to child labour. Together with other international instruments relating to children’s, workers’ and human rights they provide an important framework for legislation established by national governments. However the ILO’s most recent global estimate is that 215 million children worldwide are involved in child labour, with more than half this number involved in its worst forms.1 The children concerned should be at school being educated, and acquiring skills that prepare them for decent work as adults. By entering the labour market prematurely, they are deprived of this critical education and training that can help to lift them, their families and communities out of a cycle of poverty. In its worst forms, child labourers may also be exposed to physical, psychological or moral suffering that can cause long term damage to their lives.
See full Press Release.

The Spectacular Triumph of Working Women Around the World

Growth is complicated. But there are a few easy rules. One such decree is that you cannot expect to have a fully functioning economy if you insist on treating half of your adult population like second-class citizens.

And yet, many countries insist on doing just that with women. Look at Sudan. The nation placed 128th out of 128 countries surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit's second annual Women's Economic Opportunity Index, released Tuesday morning. (Sweden was first. We were 14th.) "Women in Sudan still do not have access to bank accounts or financial services," the authors write, "and are not free to manage their own financial affairs, even when a woman is widowed and left money by her husband." It's not much better in Yemen, 126th on the list, where it is illegal for women to leave the home "without permission from a male family member or an escort."

See full Article.

Women in parliaments: Contested geographies

Examining female participation rates in parliaments reveals a new picture of women's rights across the globe.

The war in the US over women's reproductive rights is appalling. The all-men panel at the congressional hearing that discussed female contraception was patently offensive as much as it was ironic. The pressure on women's health in the US is particularly disturbing because it takes place in broad day light, in a democratic context of a country that claims to be a world leader in individual freedoms.

While some societies appear to grant women considerable political equality, the form and content of political debates can be symptomatic of underlying structural inequalities that rarely receive scrutiny. There are many ways to analyse the current erosion of women rights in the US; one of them is that women's voices are too often absent or marginal when crucial decisions are made.

See full Article.

Worldwide, Prospect of Job Loss Connected to Low Well-Being

Relation between perceived layoffs and well-being most pronounced in Americas

Worldwide, workers who say their employer is currently letting workers go are less likely to be "thriving" than those who say their employer is currently hiring, according to Gallup surveys conducted in more than 100 countries in 2008 and 2009.

Gallup measures evaluative well-being using a measure based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, which asks people to evaluate their present and future lives on a scale with steps numbered from 0 to 10, where 0 is the worst possible life and 10 is the best possible life. Those that rate today a "7" or higher and the future an "8" or higher are considered to be "thriving." Those that rate today and the future a "4" or lower on the scale are considered to be "suffering." "Net thriving" is the difference between people who are "thriving" and "suffering" in a given group. Country data are weighted by their populations to reflect worldwide figures.

The global data reveal that workers who believe their companies are hiring new workers are 27 percentage points more likely to be thriving than suffering, nearly double the gap for workers at companies laying workers off (14 point).

See full Article.

Decent Work in rural areas: a key path for poverty reduction

When: 28 May to 13 June, 2008
Where: Geneva, Switzerland

Some 3.4 billion people, slightly under half of the world’s population, now live in rural areas. Though the great majority live in developing countries and are poor, their situation, along with the impact of climate change, food price rises and other factors are visibly in the news. Promotion of rural employment and poverty reduction is one of the main topics of discussion at this year’s International Labour Conference meeting in Geneva from 28 May to 13 June. Here are some questions and answers on the state of rural employment today and the key issues for consideration when discussing how to reduce rural poverty through the promotion of Decent Work.

Why is the ILO’s annual conference holding a general discussion on rural employment?

Much has changed since the last discussion took place 20 years ago. The Millennium Development goals (MDGs) call for reducing poverty and hunger by 50 per cent by 2015. Climate change – hardly a factor 20 years ago – is now at the top of the global agenda. Soaring food prices are sparking global debate on agricultural production as well as the use of farm products for fuel. The political landscape is vastly changed, with greater links between governance and economic growth. These factors, coming at roughly the halfway point since the Millennium Summit in 2000, mean that now is a good time to assess progress achieved and examine the challenges that face both the MDGs as well as the rural working population.

See full Details.