World Day Against Child Labour 12 June 2010

Theme: Go for the goal: End child labour

Celebrated on 12 June each year, the World Day Against Child Labour 2010 comes just one month after a major Global Conference on Child Labour in the Netherlands, the first event of its kind for more than 10 years. The World Day follows up on the momentum generated by the Global Conference and calls for:

• Renewed urgency to tackle the worst forms of child labour.
• Scaling up global, national and local level efforts by making action against all forms of child labour an integral part of poverty reduction, social protection and education planning strategies.
• Building political and popular commitment to tackling child labour, with social partners and civil society playing a leading role in advocacy and awareness raising efforts.
• Fostering broader efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the one-UN approach.

The abolition of the worst forms of child labour would not be possible without the achievement of MDG 2 (「Achieve universal primary education」) which seeks to ensure universally accessible, free and compulsory education. In talking the urgent need to step up effective interventions within and between countries, partnerships with local government representatives will play a pivotal role. Their commitment, stated in the 「Local Governments Millennium Declaration – Bringing the MDGs Back Home」 is an untapped promising resource for the achievement of crucial educational reforms and for the implementation of the World Programme for Human Rights Education (WPHRE), which aims at encouraging the development of sustainable national strategies and programme in Human Rights education.

In the build up to the World Day, we call upon WOSM members (NSOs) and ILO/IPEC staff in the field to work together to organise joint activities and events to raise awareness on child labour. Here are some ideas of what you can do:

- The 2010 World Day coincides with the football World Cup in South Africa and the slogan for this year』s World Day is 「Go for the goal…end child labour」. Spread the message against child labour in your community by joining the 「Red Card to Child Labour」 Campaign. Organise a sporting event and use the Red Card (which can be downloaded from the website mentioned below) to raise awareness on child labour in your community.

- Take part in our 「Say NO to child labour!」 initiative by creating a giant canvas or mural on child labour. Ask your mayor of the city at your local level to give a public space for the mural or to display the canvas. Organise a community event to launch the canvas/mural and bring on board the local media.

More information on these activities (and others!) along with promotional materials (poster, brochure, Red Card, etc.) can be found on the ILO/IPEC website:

www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/WDACL/WorldDay2010

Useful resources:

The SCREAM Education Pack, which is available in 20 languages and, together with the most recent module on HIV/AIDS and Child Labour, can be downloaded from the ILO website: www.ilo.org/scream.

The WOSM Guidelines on Scouting for Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances – www.scout.org/reaching out

The video on Scouting and Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances, prepared in collaboration with ILO/IPEC:

Please remember to share information on what you have done on the 12 to 12 Community Portal on Child labour - www.12to12.org. The Portal derives its name from June 12th - the World Day Against Child Labour - and aims to bring attention to the issue of child labour year-round, from June 12th to June 12th, until child labourers are finally given the chance to enjoy their rights as children. Please remember to upload details of your activities with any supporting materials, including drawings, stories, writings and photographs on the Portal and/or send the information to ipec@ilo.org and worldbureau@scout.org so that we can disseminate this on our respective websites and, by so doing, encourage others to take action as well.

We greatly value all of your efforts in fighting against the exploitation of children. By joining forces, we can make a difference and put an end to child labour.