[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7537-S7538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today, June 12, is the annual observance 
of the International Labor Organization's World Day Against Child 
Labor. This is the day we set aside each year to speak out against the 
fact that millions of children around the globe continue to be trapped 
in forced and abusive labor, often in extremely hazardous conditions.
  For many years, I have been active in efforts to stop exploitative 
child labor as well as trafficking in child and female slaves around 
the world. In my travels, I have seen this scourge firsthand. I have 
come to the floor of the Senate many times to speak about this issue. I 
have spoken about how shocked I was to see the deplorable conditions 
under which these kids are forced to work. Many are physically, 
emotionally, and sexually abused. All of them, every child engaged in 
abusive child labor, is deprived of a childhood solely for someone 
else's gain.
  Why should we as a nation tolerate children being used in such a 
manner? We should not. It is a moral outrage and an affront to human 
dignity. When a child is exploited for the economic gains of others, 
not only does the child lose, but the family loses, and I think the 
whole world loses. It is bad economics, and it is bad development 
strategy. A nation cannot achieve prosperity on the backs of its 
children, and there must be no place in the global economy for child 
labor.
  This year, the World Day Against Child Labor specifically shines a 
spotlight on child laborers in agriculture. This has been a special 
concern for me going back many years. I have been especially concerned 
about forced child labor in the cocoa industry.
  In 2001, the Knight-Ridder syndicate ran a series of articles on 
forced child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa. According to one of 
those articles, child laborers in Ivory Coast ``are whipped, beaten, 
and broken like horses to harvest the almond-sized beans that are made 
into chocolate treats for more fortunate children in Europe and the 
United States.''
  When I read these articles, I resolved to do everything I could to 
end this tragic exploitation of children. Together with Congressman 
Eliot Engel of New York, we engaged the major chocolate companies in 
lengthy, intense negotiations. The result was what is now called the 
Harkin-Engel protocol, an agreement that aims to ensure that cocoa 
beans are grown and processed in a manner that complies with the 
International Labor Organization Convention 182 concerning the 
prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms 
of child labor.
  The Harkin-Engel protocol, signed in September 2001, applies 
everywhere that cocoa is grown and processed. It laid out a series of 
date-specific actions, including the development of credible, mutually 
acceptable, voluntary industry-wide standards of public certification 
by July 1, 2005 in order to give a public accounting of labor practices 
in cocoa farming. Although I was disappointed that the July 2005 
deadline was not fully met by the industry, we have continued to work 
together and the rollout of the certification system--including 
monitoring, data analysis reporting, and activities to reduce the worst 
forms of child labor--will proceed as aggressively as possible in Ivory 
Coast and Ghana with the goal of covering 50 percent of the two 
countries' cocoa producing areas by July of 2008. This is, indeed, a 
milestone on the path toward the ultimate goal of 100 percent coverage 
in cocoa-producing countries around the world.
  The clock is ticking. The corporations and national governments that 
were party to the Harkin-Engel protocol are moving forward. For 
example, the Government of Ghana has conducted a pilot project and the 
results were released. However, the results still need to be 
independently verified, and I am hopeful that the industry will work 
with the Ghanaian government to have these preliminary reports 
independently verified in accordance with the protocol. Additionally, 
the Ivorian government has only recently begun to conduct a pilot 
certification process. It is a good start, but that pilot needs to be 
scaled up in order to give more realistic results for the main harvest 
season.
  The Harkin-Engel protocol marks an important first--an entire 
industry, including companies from the United States, Europe, and the 
United Kingdom taking responsibility for addressing the worst forms of 
child labor and forced labor in its supply chain.
  Today the protocol stands as a framework for progress in West Africa, 
bringing together industry, West African governments, organized labor, 
nongovernmental organizations, farmers groups, and experts in a 
concerted effort to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and forced 
labor from the growing and processing of cocoa.
  To further assist in the effort to eradicate child labor, in my 
capacity as chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, this 
past April I convened a hearing to facilitate collaborative efforts by 
advocacy groups in the child labor field. In light of the International 
Labor Organization's report last year, the discussion focused on how 
best to continue the cooperative international effort to eradicate 
child labor.

[[Page S7538]]

  The ILO global report, ``The End of Child Labor: Within Reach,'' 
states that for the first time child labor, especially in its worst 
forms, is in decline across the globe. Between the years 2000 and 2004, 
the number of child laborers worldwide fell by 11 percent, from 246 
million to 218 million. Even better, the number of children and youth 
aged 5-17 trapped in hazardous work decreased by 26 percent, declining 
from 171 million in 2000 to 126 million in 2004. Among younger child 
laborers, the drop was even sharper at 33 percent.
  This is remarkable progress in just 4 years' time. And looking to the 
future, the report cautiously predicts that, if the current pace of 
decline is maintained, and if global efforts to stop child labor 
continue, we have a real shot at eliminating child labor in its worst 
forms within 10 years' time.
  Today, 218 million child laborers--many of whom are trapped in the 
worst forms of child labor, such as prostitution, armed conflicts, and 
slavery--are still suffering. While the U.S. Government and 
international organizations such as the World Bank and UNICEF have 
programs designed to reduce abusive and exploitative child labor, it 
will require all of these entities and others working together if we 
are to reach the goal of ending the worst forms of child labor by the 
year 2016.
  Likewise, in the broader fight against child labor, the ILO report 
verifies that we are on the right track to eliminate abusive and 
exploitative child labor. The great work of the ILO's International 
Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, IPEC, affirms the confidence 
I placed in this program early on. I secured the first Federal 
appropriation for the IPEC program back in 1996, and over the last 
decade, I have secured a total of more than $323 million for the 
program. Clearly, that money has made a real difference in the lives of 
children. It has given millions of children an opportunity to get an 
education and to break the cycle of poverty.
  Although there has been a tremendous amount of progress in ending 
child labor, now is not the time to become complacent. Economic 
development alone is not enough. We must also focus on human rights and 
educational opportunities for those in poverty. Social change must go 
hand in hand with economic development, which requires workers' and 
employers' organizations. Our keys to success will be mainstreaming 
child labor efforts with other human rights and development goals, as 
well as getting national governments, NGOs, and international 
organizations working cooperatively to end child poverty.
  We should not think about these children only on June 12 each year. 
We should think about this last vestige of slavery 365 days a year. I 
have remained steadfast in my commitment to eliminating 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. And I am committed to working with the 
representatives of the cocoa industry and the national governments to 
implement the Harkin-Engel Protocol by July 1, 2008 deadline.
  In my view, we can make significant progress to eliminate this 
scourge if we all do our part and redouble our efforts. This means that 
governments must not merely pass laws but enforce them, while also 
striving to provide quality free education. Businesses must take 
responsibility, as well, by not hiring children, and by paying adults 
livable wages so they can provide for their families. Multilateral 
institutions must also play a robust role. Together, we can eliminate 
the worst forms of child labor by 2016.

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