[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11903-S11904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ILO CONVENTION 182 RATIFICATION

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I rise today to commemorate the first 
anniversary of U.S. ratification of the ILO's newest core human rights 
convention: ILO Convention #182--the Elimination of the Worst Forms of 
Child Labor.
  Last Friday was not just the first anniversary of ILO Convention 
#182. It was also the date on which Convention #182 came into effect in 
the United States. That means the first report on U.S. compliance with 
the terms of this treaty is due in Geneva by next September.
  I have long been deeply involved in the struggle to end abusive child 
labor. Ten years ago, the scourge of abusive child labor was spreading 
in the U.S. and throughout the world with little notice or concern from 
our government.
  That is why I supported the first-ever, day-long Capitol Hill forum 
on the Commercial Exploitation of Children. I had two primary goals in 
mind back then.
  First, I wanted to sound an alarm about the increase in abusive child 
labor in the U.S. and overseas. Second, I wanted to elevate this human 
rights and worker rights challenge to a global priority.
  I am heartened to report that significant progress has been made in 
the past decade, even though much remains to be done.
  In June of 1999, ILO Convention #182 was adopted unanimously--the 
first time ever that an ILO convention was approved without one 
dissenting vote. Just one year ago, the Senate, in record time, 
ratified ILO Convention #182 with a bipartisan, 96-0 vote.
  And today, 41 countries have ratified ILO Convention #182--countries 
from every region of the world. 12 African nations, 12 European 
nations, 10 American Caribbean nations, 5 from the Middle East, and 2 
from Asia. Since the ILO was established in 1919, never has one of its 
treaties been ratified so quickly by so many national governments.
  In May of 2000, we enacted the Trade and Development Act of 2000. 
This Act included a provision I authored that requires more than 100 
nations that enjoy duty-free access to the American marketplace to 
implement their legal commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child 
labor in order to keep these trade privileges.
  Since May, the State Department has demanded thorough review of the 
efforts of over 130 nations to eliminate

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the worst forms of child labor. The U.S. Labor Department is planning 
to file its first comprehensive report to Congress on whether countries 
that enjoy preferential access to our markets are fulfilling their 
obligations de facto until ILO Convention #182. And they've dispatched 
fact-finding teams around the world to investigate.
  Their findings will be submitted to an inter-agency review process 
chaired by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Later this 
year, this process will decide which beneficiary countries should 
retain their trade privileges and which should not.
  Last year, this Congress approved a $30 million U.S. contribution to 
the ILO's International Program to Eliminate Child Labor (IPEC) for 
Fiscal Year 2000.
  This made our country the single largest contributor to IPEC. And--if 
and when we finally approve our LHHS Appropriations Bill--our 
contribution will increase to $45 million in Fiscal Year 2001. This is 
yet another reason for us to wrap up that legislation before we 
adjourn.
  That's the good news, Mr. President. But we've got a long way to go 
in our battle to eliminate abusive child labor and open up a bright 
future for more than 250 million child laborers around the world.
  Our first, and perhaps most important step, is to heed ILO Convention 
#182 in our own country. We have to develop a national action plan to 
eliminate the worst forms of child labor in our midst--labor which ``by 
its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to 
harm the health, safety or morals of children.''
  Mr. President, who among us can deny that there are children working 
under such circumstances in our own country?
  In order to be a credible leader in the world struggle against 
abusive child labor, we've got to do more to eliminate the worst forms 
of child labor right here in America.
  Fortunately, the Child Labor Coalition has recently convened meetings 
of non-governmental organizations to begin fashioning recommendations 
for the U.S. national action plan required by ILO Convention #182.
  Hopefully, President Clinton will be moved to act on some of these 
recommendations when they are presented to White House officials today. 
He has already distinguished himself as a President who has done more 
than all of his predecessors combined to fight abusive child labor.
  I conclude my remarks by describing one glaring example of abusive 
child labor in our own backyard that cries out for immediate 
legislative redress.
  Right now, as many as 800,000 migrant child laborers toil in the 
fields of large-scale commercial agriculture picking the produce we eat 
every day. They are working at younger ages, for longer hours, exposed 
to more hazardous conditions than minors working in non-agricultural 
jobs.
  Their plight has prompted me to introduce the Children's Act for 
Responsible Employment (S. 3100--The CARE Act) which I will push hard 
to enact next year.
  This legislation will end our current double standard in employment. 
It will extend to minors working in large-scale commercial 
agriculture--corporate farms, if you will--the same rights and legal 
protections as those working in non-agricultural jobs. It will also: 
Toughen civil and criminal penalties for willful child labor violators; 
protect children under 16 from working in peddling or door-to-door 
sales; strengthen the authority of the U.S. Secretary of Labor to deal 
with ``hot goods'' made by children and shipped in interstate commerce; 
improve coordination and reporting among federal, state, and local 
governments on injuries and deaths of minors on the job; improve 
collaboration between the U.S. Labor and Agriculture Departments to 
enforce federal child labor laws; and preserve exemptions for minors 
working on family farms as well as those selling door-to-door as 
volunteers for non-profit organizations like the Girl Scouts of 
America.
  So today, we should all celebrate that day one year ago when we took 
the high road and ratified ILO Convention #182. But we cannot rest on 
our laurels. In the next Congress, we've got to re-dedicate ourselves 
to restoring the childhoods of millions of child laborers and lifting 
them up from the cruel hand that they and their impoverished families 
have been dealt.

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