I should like first of all to congratulate the Government of the Netherlands for having taken the initiative to organize this international Conference on child labour. This initiative illustrates, if such evidence were needed, how strongly this country defends the cause of the rights of the child and, in particular, the right to be protected against economic exploitation and employment in dangerous activities. You will no doubt be interested to know that the Netherlands was the first country to finance an ILO project on child labour and thus it is not fortuitous that this major Conference is being held here in the Netherlands. It is an honour for the International Labour Office to have been associated in the organization of this Conference, and as Director-General of the ILO, I have pleasure in declaring it open, in the presence of your Majesty, along with Minister Melkert, before this gathering of ministers and social partners from more than 30 countries representing the world of work.
Child labour is an enormous and widespread problem throughout the world.
In the developing countries alone as many as 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are engaged in some kind of economic activity. Between 15 and 20 per cent of these are under the age of ten. Many millions are employed in work or in conditions that are a veritable insult to human rights and an intolerable assault on the dignity of the individual. But at the same time, the ILO believes that recent developments in the situation have been encouraging and we are convinced that we can now make a decisive breakthrough in the struggle against child labour. In the first place, because there has been a radical change in attitudes towards the problem, which, until very recently, attracted little attention at the national and international levels.