Tom Harkin: “I have come to the floor today to acknowledge and celebrate the World Day Against Child Labor, which was commemorated…”

“I have come to the floor today to acknowledge and celebrate the World Day Against Child Labor, which was commemorated earlier this week. An estimated 215 million children across the world are still trapped in the worst forms of child labor. A report issued by the International Labor Organization, ILO, in May 2010 offered some good news in the fight against child labor. There is a decline in the number of girls trapped in child labor. There are fewer children doing hazardous work. We are closer than ever to universal ratification of ILO Convention 182, which prohibits the worst forms of child labor. Mr. President, 173 out of 192 participating nations have ratified this convention. However, due to the economic crisis, there also have been setbacks. Child labor has been increasing among boys and in young people between the ages of 15 and 17. Progress in reducing child labor in Sub-Saharan Africa has stalled. While some people may point to the global economic crisis as a cause of these setbacks, we cannot use this as an excuse for complacency. One can look at the country of Uzbekistan to see the dire need for more action. According to School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, over 2 million children are forcibly pulled from school by government officials to work in cotton fields. Uzbek cotton is listed as a good produced by forced labor and child labor by the Department of Labor.…”