Former Child Actors, Child Labor Activists, Legislators Meet at Capitol Hill Forum on Abusive Child Labor

For release May 8, 2001
Contact: Carol McKay
202-835-3323
media@nclnet.org

WHO: U.S. Senator Tom Harkin is sponsoring a day-long educational conference on Capitol Hill on abusive child labor in America and around the world.

Also participating:

• Former Child Workers and Actors:
• Paul Peterson, executive director of A Minor Consideration and former child actor;
• Melissa Gilbert and Traci Lords, former child actors;
• Jose Martinez, former child farmworker;
• Pablo Flores and son, farmworkers;
• Arn Chorn Pond, former child soldier from Cambodia.

• National and International Child Labor Experts: 
• Kailash Satyarathi, founder and leader of the Global March Against Child Labor;
• Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO;
• Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
• Mike Farrell, co-chair of Human Rights Watch/California;
• Frans M.J. Roselaers, director of IPEC, International Labor Organization;
• Carlos Felix Corona, minister for migration affairs, Embassy of Mexico.

• Youth Activists: 
• Elizabeth and Laura Bloomer for the Kids Campaign To Build A School for Iqbal;
• Andrew Kruse, student organizer of Operation Day’s Work at Tipton High School, Iowa;
• Students from Immaculate Hearth and Palisades High Schools in Los Angeles
• The Human Rights Watch/California Student Task Force

• President Bush and Cabinet officials have also been invited to speak to the challenges ahead to sustain American leadership in the fight against abusive child labor at home and abroad and to help expand this growing international movement.

Senate and House colleagues are co-sponsoring the event, and more than 100 international and national organizations from human rights, religious, labor, business, academic, international development, and other communities of concern.

For a copy of the agenda, visit www.stopchildlabor.org/USchildlabor/capitolhillforum.htm

WHAT: The Capitol Hill Forum on Abusive Child Labor: “Putting Children First and Leaving No Child Behind” will explore what has been accomplished and what remains to be done to provide positive alternatives for working children, beginning with access to basic education.

WHEN: Thursday, May 10, 2001, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

WHERE: 9^th Floor Conference Room of the Hart Senate Office Building

WHY: There are at least 250 million child laborers working around the world today. Fully half of them—125 million—work full-time and never see the inside of a classroom. Sixty million are trapped in the worst forms of child labor, risking their lives, limbs, and long-term health every day.

In recent years, the United States has assumed a leading role in an unprecedented international effort to curb exploitative child labor in every region of the world. Speedy ratification of ILO Convention 182 also obligated America to eliminate the worst forms of child labor here at home as a matter of urgency.

The Capitol Hill Forum on Abusive Child Labor: “Putting Children First and Leaving No Child Behind” is co-sponsored by the Child Labor Coalition (CLC). The CLC is a national group that works to end child labor exploitation in the U.S. and abroad and to protect the health, education, and safety of working minors. The CLC is comprised of more than 60 organizations, reflecting educators, health groups, religious and woman’s groups, human rights groups, consumer groups, labor unions, and child labor advocates. The coalition is coordinated by the National Consumers League.

Child Labor Coalition
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC  20006
Telephone: 202.835.3323; Fax: 202.835.0747

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.