Child Rights Protection: A More Holistic Approach
In 2000 in Dakar, Senegal, the World Education Forum reaffirmed Education for All (EFA) as the key component of its Framework for Action. EFA is one of three critical, closely interrelated processes affecting the future of our world, and in particular our children. The other two are poverty alleviation and the elimination of child labour.
Despite their interrelatedness, an ideological, political and practical disjoint currently exists between the three. We urgently need to build a triangular linkage between them at all levels--local, national and international. Where's the coordination? During my visit to Latin America earlier this year, I met with Ministers of Education, Labour, Social Affairs, and Women's and related issues, along with government officials and parliamentarians, trade unions and NGOs. On several occasions the ministries responsible for the elimination of child labour and those wanting to provide quality education for children evidently had little or no connection with each other. As for finance ministries--the most powerful among all, responsible for all major matters concerning poverty and economic growth--they clearly lacked adequate understanding of, or concern about, issues of child labour and education as prerequisites for development. The same is true for the rest of the world. This widespread lack of connectedness in addressing education, poverty alleviation and child labour is a “top-down” matter. It starts with intergovernmental organizations and reaches all the way “down” to local self-governance. In terms of programme delivery, poverty alleviation is now dealt with largely under the umbrella of the Millennium Development Goals. This work is officially facilitated by the World Bank and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The World Bank also leads the EFA Fast Track Initiative, facilitating additional resource mobilization to fill financing gaps for developing countries. Secondly, there is the overall Dakar EFA goal, with UNESCO the lead agency. UNICEF is also undertaking major initiatives to bring girl children into school.
Thirdly, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is involved in putting an end to the worst forms of child labour through its Convention 182. However, coordination and integration among the three processes are very rare. In relation to multilateral and bilateral aid, developing countries are supposed to implement Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and country plans. Ironically, child labour eradication hardly figures in the PRSP of any country. For the implementation of Education for All, each country is supposed to make concrete and time-bound national action plans to achieve the goals by 2015. But poverty reduction programmes in most countries do not have strong linkages with EFA. The same applies to the work of many civil society organisations and government institutions at national level. They tend to run projects on child labour with a narrow vision, whereas this work should be located within the broader economic environment affecting families and communities, the state of labour markets, poverty-related policies, existing development paradigms, and processes of trade liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. Without proper conceptualisation, long-lasting solutions to the perpetuation of child labour are unlikely to be achieved. Building a triangular paradigm How can we ensure enrolment and more importantly the retention of children in primary and secondary classes unless a strong effort is made to eradicate child labour? What will encourage children to attend schools if the education is not of good quality and useful?
Those who believe that the problem of child labour can be solved merely by the enforcement of laws should know that it is not so simple. Free, quality, meaningful and compulsory education is one of the most effective (preventive, curative, rehabilitative) and sustainable strategies for the eradication of child labour. The situation therefore demands that we build a triangular development paradigm and translate it into action. All agencies, governments and ministries need a better understanding of the push-pull factors that link child labour, education, and poverty. We need systematic approaches to addressing all three issues together through a range of models and schemes. Many of the partners of the Global March Against Child Labour are furthering this process of triangular relation at the local level. With these objectives, the Global March has taken an initiative in collaboration with the ILO, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank. New initiative to address root causes For the first time, on 13 November 2003 in New Delhi, all these agencies came together with other UN, multilateral, bilateral and donor agencies, along with Ministers of Labour and Education from many countries, to discuss crosscutting issues and linkages. This roundtable discussion underscored the importance of addressing the root causes of child labour and the poor quality and lack of access to education within a broader poverty reduction strategy in line with the Millennium Development Goals. It was declared that greater coordination between education initiatives, social protection programmes to combat child labour, and poverty reduction measures is crucially important. A global task force on child labour and education has been suggested. Much more work in this direction is urgently needed, and we look to all like-minded people and organizations to join us in what is likely to be a long-term effort. Kailash Satyarthi is Founder-Chairperson of the Global March Against Child Labour, a movement of more than 2,000 NGOs and trade unions in 140 countries; Chairperson of the Global Campaign for Education, the worldwide network of teachers' organisations and NGOs; and winner of the Raoul Wallenberg Human Rights Award (2002), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung International Human Rights Award (1999) and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award (1995). --- OneWorld Guest Editorials represent the viewpoint of the authors and not necessarily that of the OneWorld Network. Read and comment on previous Guest Editorials. If you would like to contribute or suggest a future OneWorld Guest Editorial, please contact miles.litvinoff@oneworld.net or josie.kirby@oneworld.net. |
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