eliminating child labour contrary to accepted international standards and appropriate means of improving
cooperation in this area at the national and international levels;
(b)
Recent publications and reports by the United Nations Children's Fund and the International
Labour Organization on child labour, as well as the support given by them to governmental initiatives for the
organization of international conferences on child labour at a regional or global level, at which declarations and
programmes of action were adopted with the aim of effectively eliminating the exploitation of child labour,
giving priority to the immediate elimination of the most intolerable forms of child labour and to the
rehabilitation of the children concerned, as well as to the search for alternatives;
(c)
The legislative, administrative, social and educational measures taken by Governments to
protect children from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to
interfere with their education, or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development, taking into account in particular the relevant provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child and of the international instruments of the International Labour Organization, as well as the measures
outlined in the Programme of Action for the Elimination of the Exploitation of Child Labour of 1993 and the
Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Summit for Social Development in
1995 (A/CONF.166/9, chap. I), and calls upon relevant United Nations agencies and bodies, in particular the
United Nations Children's Fund and the International Labour Organization, to continue to support national
efforts in this regard;
(d)
The efforts by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the area of child labour, noting its
recommendations concerning economic exploitation of children adopted at its fifth session in January 1994
(A/49/41, para. 572 (b)), and encourages the Committee as well as other relevant human rights treaty bodies,
within their respective mandates, to continue to monitor this serious problem when examining reports of States
parties;
19.
Calls upon all States:
(a)
That have not yet done so to consider ratifying the conventions of the International Labour
Organization relating to child labour, in particular the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (Convention No. 29) and
the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (Convention No. 138), and those States that are parties to those
conventions to implement them effectively, and urges all States, as a matter of priority, to eliminate all extreme
forms of child labour such as forced labour, bonded labour and other forms of slavery;
(b)
To eliminate progressively and effectively all forms of child labour contrary to accepted
international standards, starting with its most grave and intolerable forms, inter alia by implementing national
action plans with specific target dates, as well as supporting the forthcoming negotiations at the International
Labour Organization for the early finalization of a future instrument aimed at eradicating the most intolerable
forms of child labour;
(c)
To recognize the right to education by making primary education compulsory and ensuring that
all children have access to free and relevant primary education as a key strategy to prevent child labour, as well
as making secondary education generally available and accessible to all, and in particular by the progressive
introduction of free education;
(d)
Systematically to assess and examine, in close cooperation with international organizations
such as the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, the magnitude, nature
and causes of the exploitation of child labour, and to develop and implement strategies for combating such
practices, giving special attention to specific dangers faced by girls;
(e)
To strengthen international cooperation and coordination, inter alia through the United Nations
programme of advisory services in the field of human rights, the International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour of the International Labour Organization and activities of the United Nations Children's Fund, as a
means of assisting Governments in preventing and combating violations of the rights of the child, in particular
the exploitation of child labour;
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