Kailash Satyarthi - Global March Against Child Labor

Global March Against Child Labor

"The Global March Against Child Labour is a movement to mobilise worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the right to receive a free, meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be harmful to the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."

In 1998 the Global March movement originated under the aegis of Mr. Kailash Satyarthi with a worldwide physical march across 103 countries spanning 80,000 km.

Child victims of slavery, prostitution and trafficking along with common people marched together to jointly put forth the message against child labour and demanded an International Law to stop worst forms of child labour immediately. Over 70 Heads of States and Governments including President Clinton, President, Jack Chiraque, Tony Blair etc. joined and supported this historic march which finally culminated at the ILO Conference in Geneva. Out of the tens of millions who joined the march, 7.2 million children and adults engraved their foot prints on paper as a memoir. The voice of the marchers was heard and reflected in the draft of the ILO Convention against the worst forms of child labour. The following year, the Convention was unanimously adopted at the ILO Conference in Geneva. Today, with 172 countries having ratified the convention, it has become the fastest ratified convention in the history of ILO. A large role in this was played by the Global March through its member partner organizations numbering up to 20,000.

With ILO conventions 138 and 182 as well as the UN Convention on Rights of the Child forming the base of our movement, the Global March also perceives the Right to free and compulsory education for all children, as a non negotiable clause. Therefore the Global March also considers the EFA goals under the Dakar Framework an equally important international instrument and pushes for governments to achieve the goals committed therein.

Working on numbers is one thing, and direct efforts to end child labour have always been a part of the Global March partner programmes. The Global March seeks to eliminate child labour by questioning, attacking and changing the very systems that compel children to work at the global, regional and national levels. What is key therefore, in the fight to end child labour, is the need to advocate for policy changes. The Global March works on a three pronged strategy, or what we call a triangular paradigm. The three key processes affecting the future of the world, in particular our children are the elimination of child labour, Education For All and poverty alleviation. Bringing together policy and action for a unified response to child labour, illiteracy and poverty is a priority for the Global March Against Child Labour.

The dedicated partners of the Global March movement form an effective network around the world. Acting as vigilant observers and lobbying with governments in their regions, they form the backbone of the movement. The Global March International Secretariat is located in New Delhi, India.

• http://www.globalmarch.org/