WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3505/97 by Giuseppe RAUTI to the Commission. 250 million children involved in slave labour
Date: 1997-11-10
Institutions: European Parliament, RAUTI
Subjects: UNO, child, child labour, child protection, children's rights, slavery













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91997E3505

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3505/97 by Giuseppe RAUTI to the Commission. 250 million children involved in slave labour  


Official Journal C 158 , 25/05/1998 P. 0134 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-3505/97 by Giuseppe Rauti (NI) to the Commission (10 November 1997)Subject: 250 million children involved in slave labourHas the Commission followed the preparatory work for the Oslo Conference on 27 and 28 October 1997 at which 40 countries and hundreds of trade union leaders and NGO representatives will discuss the dramatic situation caused by the increasingly widespread use of child labour, especially in the poorest countries?Is the Commission aware of the fact that the harshest and most despicable forms of such 'work' are in fact often tantamount to a new form of slavery as confirmed by two UN agencies (UNICEF and ILO) and that they now involve 250 million children often aged between 9 and 10 who work (e.g. making carpets in India and Pakistan) up to 16 hours a day for on average no more than 100 francs a month (LIT 30 000)?What will the Commission do to mobilize the European Union against this disgraceful state of affairs?Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (11 December 1997)The Commission did not follow the work of the conference in Oslo on 27 and 28 October.The European Union sets great store by respect for children's rights and the protection of their life and dignity.It is largely at the EU's instigation that every year since 1995 the Commission on Human Rights and the General Assembly of the United Nations have adopted a resolution on the rights of the child addressing the most serious problems facing the world's children, in particular the need to eliminate the use of child labour.In these forums the Presidency, speaking on behalf of the Union, asks those states that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a matter of priority, and calls on all states to fulfil the commitments to which they have signed up. This convention, which has been ratified by more than 190 countries, states (in Article 32) that 'States Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development'.For its part, the Commission makes a point of raising these issues in its contacts with the authorities of the countries concerned and strives with all means at its disposal to contribute to the elimination of the practices referred to by the Honourable Member.An example of this is the proposal it adopted at the end of October regarding the implementation of the social and environmental incentive clauses in the framework of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). Specifically, the draft Council Regulation provides for the granting of additional preferences to those countries benefiting from the system which specifically request them and which can demonstrate that they have adopted, and are effectively enforcing, the substance of the international standards relating to the protection of workers established by the International Labour Organisation, in particular Convention No 138, on the minimum age for admission to employment.