[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 78 (Tuesday, June 14, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S6475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              CHILD LABOR

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, it is with a sense of sorrow that I rise 
today to speak about the practice of abusive and exploitative child 
labor, as well as to recognize the International Labor Organization's 
World Day against Child Labor, which occurred on June 12. 
Unfortunately, hundreds of millions of children are still forced to 
work illegally for little or no pay. The ILO has set aside this day to 
give a voice to these helpless children who toil away in hazardous 
conditions.
  We should not only think about these children on June 12. We should 
think about this last vestige of slavery every day. I have remained 
steadfast in my commitment to eliminate abusive and exploitative child 
labor. It was in 1992 that I first introduced a bill to ban all 
products made by abusive and exploitative child labor from entering the 
United States.
  Since I introduced that bill, we have made some progress in raising 
awareness about this scourge. In June of 1999, ILO Convention 182, 
concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of 
the Worst Forms of Child Labor, was adopted unanimously in the ILO and 
here in the U.S. Senate. This was the first time ever that an ILO 
convention was approved without one dissenting vote. In record time the 
Senate ratified ILO Convention 182 with a bipartisan, 96-0 vote.
  For the first time in history the world spoke with one voice in 
opposition to abusive and exploitative child labor. Countries from 
across the political, economic, and religious spectrum--from Jewish to 
Muslim, from Buddhists to Christians--came together to proclaim 
unequivocally that abusive and exploitative child labor is a practice 
which will not be tolerated and must be abolished.
  Gone is the argument that abusive and exploitative child labor is an 
acceptable practice because of a country's economic circumstances. Gone 
is the argument that abusive and exploitative child labor is acceptable 
because of cultural tradition. And gone is the argument that abusive 
child labor is a necessary evil on the road to economic development. 
When this convention was approved, the United States and the 
international community as a whole laid those arguments to rest and 
laid the groundwork to begin the process of ending the scourge of 
abusive and exploitative child labor.
  In 2001, Congressman Engel and I, along with the international 
chocolate industry, negotiated the Harkin-Engel Protocol. This 
agreement was precipitated by news reports that same year on the abuse 
of children on cocoa farms. We knew that if consumers learned about the 
brutal realities of cocoa production, their taste of chocolate would 
sour. Sales--and delicate African economies--would plummet. But that 
was not our goal. We wanted to stop child slavery, not chocolate 
production.
  We viewed a legislative remedy not as a first resort but as a last 
resort. So, in good faith, we engaged the major chocolate companies in 
lengthy, intense negotiations. The result was the Harkin-Engel 
Protocol. The companies agreed to join with other stakeholders to 
produce an agreement for eliminating the worst forms of child and slave 
labor throughout the chain of chocolate production, and to do so 
expeditiously. They also agreed to implement an industrywide voluntary 
certification system to give a public accounting of labor practices in 
cocoa-growing countries. This would enable consumers to make better-
informed choices.
  There are an estimated 1.5 million small cocoa farms spread across 
four desperately poor countries in Africa. The Protocol established a 
public-private partnership enlisting government, industry, labor 
unions, nongovernmental organizations and consumer groups. The U.S. 
Government's role is to ensure that whatever certification plan emerges 
from this process is credible and effective in eliminating abusive 
child and slave-labor practices in the cocoa industry and ensuring the 
rehabilitation of the victims.
  Unfortunately, the chocolate industry has been slow to meet all of 
the terms of the Protocol. July 1, 2005, is the deadline for full 
implementation of the certification system. That is just 3 short weeks 
away. While I remain hopeful that industry will continue to engage in 
the elimination of child labor beyond July 1, it is clear that the 
exact terms of the Protocol will not be met by July. No public 
certificate has yet been issued. And only small regions of Ghana and 
Cote d'Ivore have been monitored for child labor. Nevertheless, we are 
continuing discussions with the chocolate industry and continue to 
believe that the Harkin-Engel Protocol remains a possible framework for 
engagement to fix the enormous problem of abusive and exploitative 
child and slave labor in the cocoa-growing countries of West Africa.
  Forced child labor remains a significant problem. According to the 
ILO, there are some 246 million child laborers in the world; 73 million 
of these are under the age of 10, and approximately 22,000 children die 
in work related accidents every year. Abusive and exploitative child 
labor is prevalent in many parts of the world, including here in 
America.
  Abusive child labor should be a thing of the past. The United Sates 
should not continue to turn a blind eye to this scourge. It is time 
that we enforce our laws and international standards and ensure that 
countries are raising their standards on this issue. If we did our part 
to ensure that children were learning and not laboring, there would not 
be a need to have a day dedicated to end child labor.

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