Toggle high contrast

Child Labour: Let all roads lead to school

Issue date

Child Labour: Let all roads lead to school

The second Children's World Congress on Child labour and Education, organised by the Global March against Child Labour, will be held in Delhi in September, not least to provide an opportunity to participate for children from the sub-continent who were denied visas to attend the first congress in Italy last year. Among the matters for discussion will be a global children's peace initiative to draw attention to the barriers war and conflict pose to social development, including the key elements of elimination of child labour and universal education.

The global campaign for education for all has become ever more pivotal in the campaign against child labour - and was the key platform for the Hyderabad Congress in November 2004. The elimination of child labour and the achievement of universal education are mutually interdependent - neither can be achieved without the other. 2005, however, was supposed to be the year in which the interim Millennium Development Goal of equal access to education for girls was to be achieved. That goal has not been reached and the World Congress - held the week before the UN Social Summit - provides another opportunity to remind the UN family and the international institutions of their obligations. Education for all is a human right and end in itself. But ILO research has also shown clearly that every $1 invested in educational provision and the struggle against child labour gives a return of $7 in national social and economic development - underlining yet again that children are the world's greatest resource. The TUC is playing a greater role in the Global March now that Simon Steyne of the TUC office has become the ICFTU's representative in the GM International Council. www.globalmarch.org

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

To access the admin area, you will need to setup two-factor authentication (TFA).

Setup now