GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST CHILD LABOR
MARCHA GLOBAL CONTRA EL TRABAJO INFANTIL
MARCHE MONDIALE CONTRE LE TRAVAIL DES ENFANTS
| For Immediate Release | CONTACT: | Holly Anderson, 202/835-3323 |
| November 20, 1997 | Anjali Kochar, 202/463-7575 | |
Washington, D.C. - Today, across five continents, thousands of children and activists will mark the official launch of the Global March Against Child Labor. The six-month march will span Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe. Its aim is to establish a worldwide movement to promote the rights of all children to receive an education and to be free from work that exploits them or damages their development.
A network of thousands of concerned organizations, united for the first time to raise this issue, are organizing a host of events around the world, coinciding with the International Day of the Child, to launch the Global March. In Brasilia, one thousand children will march to the National Congress. Another thousand children will march to India's parliament in New Delhi, and thousands more will march through the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa. In London, school children and celebrities will release balloons carrying messages to the world's working children.
The International Labor Organization estimates that there are between 100 million and 200 million child workers in the world today. Children work on farms, in mines, in factories making garments and carpets, in homes as domestic servants, and on the streets peddling goods or selling their bodies. These children live and work in horrible conditions. They work long hours -- as many as 16 hours a day and often seven days a week -- with dangerous tools and machinery, exposed to hazardous pesticides, polluted air and infectious diseases. Their safety, their health and their lives are threatened, they are denied an education, and they are deprived of prospects for prosperous and healthy adult lives.
"The 20th Century has seen enough of the globalization of the economy and armaments. In the coming century, we need to work for the globalization of human compassion and solidarity," said Kailash Satyarthi, International Coordinator for the March. "With so many people coming together for this cause, I truly believe that this day will mark the beginning of the end of child labor."
The Global March will begin in Asia with a ceremony on January 17, 1998 in Manila. The Latin American March will set off from Rio de Janeiro on February 25. Organizers hope that Nelson Mandela will inaugurate the African March from the Cape of Good Hope on March 21. The separate streams will come together in Geneva in early June, when the International Labor Organization meets there to discuss a new international convention to ban the most intolerable forms of child labor.
The United States leg of the Global March will begin in southern California on May 2, 1998. As the March travels across the country, events, rallies and demonstrations will be held in major cities. The U.S. portion of the March will culminate in Washington, D.C., where marchers will depart for Geneva to join with participants from the other continents' marches.
"I am proud to support the Global March Against Child Labor, and I welcome the March as it passes through our nation's capitol this May," U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman said yesterday. "I hope that the March will make all Americans, indeed people throughout the world, more conscious of the predicament of many of the world's youngest citizens."
U.S. organizations anticipate widespread bi-partisan Congressional support for the Global March. "This is a march for justice and hope," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). "It is a global march to end a global scourge. By walking alone, we can move a few steps toward stopping abusive child labor, but by marching together we will achieve far more, far sooner. Let's keep marching, and let us vow not to stop until we reach our goal: an end to exploitative child labor once and for all."
Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said, "It is wrong that at least 200 million defenseless children are working around the world, against their will, without ever seeing the inside of a classroom. Many of these exploited children are making products for sale in the shopping malls, department stores, and sporting goods shops of the global marketplace." He added, "We must stand up and speak out for the exploited children who toil in factories, mines, fields, at looms, and even in brothels, and who sacrifice their dreams, health, and innocence in service of the greed of commercial profiteers and their apologists in government policy-making circles."
Children across the United States who are too young to be in the actual march can show their concern by participating in an Online March. Students in more than 3,000 classrooms around the country will show their support by posting messages on the Global March web page, according to students at the Quincy, Massachusetts-based Kids Campaign to "Build A School for Iqbal," which is sponsoring the Online March.
Child protection agencies, development organizations, human rights groups and trade unions are among the thousands of organizations participating in the Global March. Representatives of the sponsoring organizations have established several goals for the Global March: raise awareness about child labor; urge states to ratify and enforce existing conventions and laws on child labor and education; mobilize the maximum possible national and international resources to support education for all children; mobilize public opinion and action against the broader injustices contributing to child labor; demand the immediate elimination of the most exploitative forms of child labor; promote positive actions by employers and consumers; and ensure the proper rehabilitation and reintegration of child laborers.
The International Steering Committee of the Global March consists of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (Kenya), Anti-Slavery International (UK), Education International (Belgium), FundaHao ABRINQ (Brazil), International Labor Rights Fund (U.S.A.), Network Against Child Labour (South Africa), Novib (Holland), Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (U.S.A.), South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (India), and Terre des Hommes-Suisse (Switzerland).
The following organizations in the United States are co-sponsors of the Global March Against Child Labor: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, Childreach/US Member of PLAN, International Child Labor Coalition, Church of the Brethren General Board/Office of Brethren Witness, Community Action on Latin America, Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation, Free the Children/U.S.A., General Federation of Women's Clubs, Global Kids, Inc., International Labor Organization Washington/Branch Office, International Labor Rights Fund, The Kids Campaign To "Build A School for Iqbal"/Broad Meadows Middle School, Kids Meeting Kids Can Make A Difference, National Consumers League, Political and Social Action Committee/Washington Ethical Society, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church: Women's Division General Board of Global Ministries, Washington Ethical Action Office/American Ethical Union, Women's Environment and Development Organization, and Youth Advocate Program International.
For more information about the Global March, please contact:
Anjali Kochar
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
1367 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: 202/463-7575, ext. 227 Fax: 2302/463-6606 E-mail: hrcenter@rfkmemorial.org
For more information, write or call the National Consumers League at 1701 K Street, N.W., Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20006, (202) 835-3323. Log on to NCL at www.nclnet.org and NFIC at www.fraud.org.
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America's pioneer consumer organization. NCL's three-pronged approach of research, education and advocacy has made it an effective representative and source of information for consumers and workers. NCL is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to representing consumers on issues of concern.
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