Regional Initiative – LAC free of child labor
The initiative from the Latin America and Caribbean region to make it child labour free uses a comprehensive and innovative regional approach based on social dialogue and consensus to combat and prevent child labour.
The initiative started with the support of the Latin American and Caribbean governments, in the form of South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC) during the Third Global Conference on Child Labour from 8-10 October, 2013 (Brasilia, Brazil). This was followed by financial support from Brazil and Spain through SSTC.
Presenting the winner, Deborah Greenfield said: “The innovation of this initiative lies in its comprehensive strategy that incorporates a threefold approach to prevention, withdrawal and restitution of rights to child labourers. It also developed an innovative tripartite partnership model creating good synergies through a set of new institutional approaches.”
See all the event photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/insideilo/sets/72157708296657895
More about the Regional Initiative
The Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour Regional Initiative is an innovative South-South cooperation mechanism involving 30 countries committed to accelerating the process of eliminating child labour in the region.
Through an intergovernmental cooperation platform, the Regional Initiative seeks to consolidate and sustain progress achieved towards the goal 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, aimed at end all forms of child labour by 2025.
Since its implementation in 2014, following the 18th ILO Regional Meeting of the Americas (Lima, Peru), the Regional Initiative, with active participation and support from employers’ and workers’ organizations, has strengthened the South-South Cooperation and demonstrated that the region and the social partners have the knowledge and experience to accelerate the rate of eradication of child labour. This is reflected in a general reduction of 17% in child labour and 35% in hazardous child labour in the region between 2012 and 2016.
The ILO, through the Technical Secretariat in charge of the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, plays an important role in the Regional Initiative by overseeing the implementation and monitoring of the Regional Initiative and working closely with the Network of Focal Points – made up of representatives of the 30 member governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations – and with the Meeting of High Level Authorities – composed of the Ministers of Labour of the region.
Official website: http://www.iniciativa2025alc.org/en
BAPA+40 Side Event on the Regional Initiative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ6IV1iE0NI