Can the war against child labour be won?
OSLO, Norway – As a recent international conference got down to forging a new global plan against child labour, ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne sought to clarify matters: “Allow me to start with one bold statement,” the Director General said in his keynote address to the International Conference on Child Labour. “The war against child labour is being won, and it can be won in all countries in the coming 15 years.” With that, the Conference, organized by the Government of Norway in collaboration with the ILO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), embarked on a debate that produced a wide-ranging agreement on international action against child labour: a new “Agenda for Action” endorsed by 40 countries, and based on what the Conference chair, Norwegian Minister of Development and Human Rights Hilde F. Johnson, called simply, “reality”. The Conference was the latest in a series of international meetings on child labour which have included the World Congress Against Commercia
