A global task force will be set up for the first time to deal
with the issue of child labor in international efforts to promote
universal education, according to a proposal unanimously adopted by
participants at Monday's meeting in Beijing on Achieving Education
for All and Elimination of Child Labor.
At the third roundtable of UNESCO's 5th High Level Group Meeting
on Education, ministers and senior officials from governments and
international organizations agreed to immediately launch a task
force after recognizing key links between combating child labor and
promoting universal education.
"If children continue to be an income source or a source of
cheap labor, universal education won't be achieved," said World
Bank Executive Director Ad Melkert. "Only healthy and well-educated
people can ensure sustainable economic development and social
welfare to make education accessible to all."
The global task force will start collecting better data, as the
true situation in many places may currently be hidden, and invite
other partners to?cooperate more broadly not only between
education and child labor agencies but on an international
level.
It will aim to increase political will and momentum on
mainstream child labor issues, advocacy for coordination and
support, and step up best practice exchanges to help countries
learn from each other.
Education Minister Zhou Ji called for increased international
efforts and cooperation.
Participants agreed that the fundamental way to combat child
labor was to help families and communities develop their economies
and eradicate poverty, requiring the international community and
governments to come up with practical and effective assistance to
promote education.
"Maintaining child labor is maintaining poverty. Only by getting
the kids in school can their parents' income be increased, and
the? child labor discouraged," said Melkert.
According to 2002 figures from the International Labor
Organization, 246 million 5 to 17-year-olds were engaged in child
labor in the year 2000. Of them, 8.4 million were in forced and
bonded labor, armed conflict, prostitution and pornography and
other illicit activities.
The Asia-Pacific region had the largest number of children aged
5-14 who were at all economically active?-- 127 million out of
211 million in the world.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2005)