STRUCTURE OF THE MARCH
In Asia, the Global March Against Child Labour will be in the form of
a continuous march going from one country to another (by foot, bus, or boat).
In the Americas the idea was proposed of combining
portions of a continuous international march with a series of large
national events. Special emphasis was placed on events that build up from the local level and involve major grassroots participat
ion.
In Africa there was considerable enthusiasm for a March in the
countries represented, but further consultation with NGOs in the many countries not represented will be needed to determine the be
st format. Logistical concerns were raised about the March in
Africa, the most serious of which is moving through zones of current military conflict (e.g. the eastern side of Zaire).
For all contin
ents there seemed to be consensus that it was not necessary for the
same core group of marchers to continue throughout the entirety of the March. Instead the March could be seen as a continuous proc
ess with many marchers involved in segments within their own country,
some marchers continuing from one country to another, and more marchers picking up "the torch" (so to speak) in that country and
carrying the March on to the next country. Combined with this, a few
delegates from large national events could be flown in to join with the March and represent their country (for example, delegates
from Peru and Bolivia could be flown in to join the March events in
Mexico City and continue with the marchers from there).
All the participants agreed on culminating the March and its ass
ociated events with a continuous march through Europe (including the
Netherlands, Germany, UK), arriving at Geneva at the time of the ILO conference on child labour. The March in Europe would begin
in the last week of May 1998 and end between the 3rd and 5th of June.
MISSION STATEMENT OF THE GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
"To mobilise world-wide efforts to protect and promote the rights of
all children, especially the rights to receive a free, meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation and from per
forming any work that is likely to be damaging to the child's
physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."
AIMS:
1. Raise awareness of child labour, as well as its causes and
consequences and effective actions to eliminate it, with a particular emphasis on:
* girl-child labour
*`less visible' forms of child labour (including family, domestic and
agricultural labour)
2. Urge states to ratify and enforce existing international
conventions on child labour and compulsory education and to introduce, strengthen and, within strict time limits, implement national laws a
nd programmes that are consistent with these international
obligations. More specifically, and consistent with this goal, the Global March will:
* conform all efforts with implementation of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the ILO Conventions relating to child labour, particularly Convention 138
* seek the creation of a mechanism within the ILO to require member
states to abolish child labour and to monitor state compliance with this requirement
* urge the ILO to ensure that a new convention on `the most
intolerable forms of child labour' has the effect of strengthening existing conventions.
3. Increase national and international funding that support elementary education and effective strategies to get all working children into schools that provide meaningful compulsory education. More specifically, and consistent with this goal, the Global March will seek the creation of an international fund for elementary education, based in part on `debt-for-education swaps' that allow states to cancel foreign debt in exchange for committing funds to elementary education.
4. Promote (for employers) independently-monitored codes of conduct that include replacement of child labourers with adults working under fair labour conditions, (for consumers) child-labour-free pro ducts, and (for governments) support for these programmes.
5. Strengthen policies and actions and increase national and international funding to rehabilitate child labourers, as a critical part of broader efforts to combat poverty and exploitation.
END OF THE MARCH
The March will end in Geneva on 3rd June 1998, a final gathering of the 3
streams, a short march at ILO meeting, a half day discussion with ILO, a half day fiesta, some photo opportunities of media attention and public awareness.
SECRETARIAT
The SACCS office in New Delhi will act as the headquarters for the international secretariat of the Global March
fax number: +91-11.623.6818
phone number: +91-11-6224899
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