[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10000-10003]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today, June 12, 2014, is the day set aside 
by the International Labor Organization to bring attention to the 
tragic predicament of millions of children across the globe who 
continue to be trapped in forced and abusive labor, often in extremely 
hazardous conditions.
  So today is the World Day Against Child Labor. It is a day set aside 
every year globally for people to take a look at what is happening to 
kids around the globe who are forced into very abusive and exploitative 
labor conditions.
  I think we should obviously think about these children more than just 
1 day a year. We should think about them every day.
  In my travels I have seen the scourge of forced and abusive child 
labor firsthand. Previously on the floor--going

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back for almost 20 years--I have spoken about how shocked I was to see 
the deplorable conditions under which some of these kids are forced to 
work. I have witnessed this personally in places from South Asia to 
Latin America, to Africa.
  These pictures I have in the Chamber are, as a matter of fact, 
pictures I took myself. This picture was taken in a rug-making place in 
Kathmandu, Nepal. We were told there were no children being forced into 
this kind of labor, but under the cover of darkness, on a Sunday 
night--it was probably after about 8 o'clock in the evening--we were 
able to make entry into one of these back-alley places, and this is 
what we came across: young people, girls and boys, some as young as 8 
years of age, working at these looms. I remind you, this is at 8 p.m. 
on a Sunday night. They lived in barracks. They were housed, kind of 
stacked in barracks, so they could not leave, they could not go 
anywhere, they could not see their families.
  Here is another picture of some older girls. These are young teenage 
girls working at the same place. I did not take that picture because 
this is me in the picture. This picture was taken by Rosemary 
Gutierrez, my staff person.
  So I witnessed this firsthand. Even though we were told no such thing 
existed, we found it did exist.
  This witnessing I have done in all these places has also been a call 
to action, a call to become a voice for these kids. Since 1992, when I 
first introduced the first bill to ban all products made by abusive and 
exploitative child labor, I have been leading this effort in the 
Senate.
  Since the introduction of the bill in 1992, we have made progress in 
raising awareness about abusive and exploitive child labor, and we have 
significantly reduced the number of kids working in these hazardous 
conditions.
  This effort received a big boost through the International Labor 
Organization's Convention 182, a treaty calling for the elimination of 
the worst forms of child labor.
  In June 1999, President Clinton traveled to Geneva to support and 
sign this treaty. I was proud to accompany him on this historic trip 
when, 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 came together to 
proclaim unequivocally that abusive and exploitative child labor is a 
practice that will not be tolerated and must be abolished.
  After returning from that trip with President Clinton, I worked with 
Senator Jesse Helms in the Senate--he was then chairman of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee--to bring this treaty before the full 
Senate. Just 5 months later, the Senate unanimously gave its advice and 
consent, in a 96-to-0 vote, to ratify this treaty.
  I have to digress for a minute. We have another treaty that hopefully 
we will be bringing up soon; that is, the U.N. treaty on the rights of 
people with disabilities--the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities. There has been a lot of talk about sovereignty, that we 
can't give up our sovereignty. That is just a red herring. I would say 
that many Senators who are here today voted on that 96-to-0 vote and 
nobody ever raised an issue about sovereignty. Have we lost our 
sovereignty since we joined that treaty? Not one speck. So why is it we 
are so concerned about some sovereignty issue when it deals with people 
with disabilities but we weren't in 1999 when we voted unanimously, 
Republicans and Democrats, when it dealt with exploitative child labor? 
So I just want to make that point for people to consider when we, 
hopefully, bring up the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities sometime this summer.
  With that historic treaty on exploitative child labor, the global 
community rejected the argument that abusive and exploitative child 
labor is a practice that can be excused by a country's poor economic 
circumstances.
  In pushing the United States to lead by example, I worked with the 
Clinton administration to issue Executive order 13126, the 
``Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced and 
Indentured Child Labor.'' This Executive order, in effect since 1999, 
prohibits the U.S. Government from procuring items made by forced or 
indentured child labor.
  I have always believed that trade agreements--on the right terms--
promise many broadly shared benefits and opportunities for all. That is 
why I have worked hard to improve the labor provisions in various trade 
measures, concentrating particularly on combating abusive and 
exploitative child labor.
  Thereafter, in 2000, during consideration of the Trade and 
Development Act, I again worked with Senator Helms to amend the 
Generalized System of Preferences--GSP--so that ``efforts to eliminate 
the worst forms of child labor'' would be included as a criterion and 
condition for receiving trade benefits. That is in the law.
  Additionally, that amendment also mandated that the Department of 
Labor's International Labor Affairs Bureau--called ILAB--the U.S. 
Government's foremost authority on child labor, must produce an annual 
report in which our government formally monitors and documents the 
effort or lack of effort of 144 countries and territories receiving 
U.S. trade benefits to meet their international commitments to 
eliminate the worst forms of child labor. This amendment enshrined into 
law something I had been working on for years through the previous 
Department of Labor reports.
  I intended for this report to bring countries to account, to shine a 
spotlight on their need to reform their national laws, and to put in 
place safety nets for those trapped in the worst forms of child labor. 
The aim is not punitive but, rather, to jump-start individual and 
collective action. I wanted this report to be equal in stature--and in 
impact--to the State Department's human rights report, and we are well 
on our way to achieving that status.
  On the technical assistance side, ILAB has funded 269 technical 
cooperation projects to combat exploitative child labor in over 90 
countries around the world. Think about that. We have funded 269 
projects to combat child labor in over 90 countries around the world. 
As a result of these efforts, about 1.7 million children have been 
rescued from child labor through the provision of education and 
training services and livelihood support for their families.
  Let's be clear. Whether we are talking about trafficking of children 
for sexual exploitation or for purposes of forced labor in dangerous, 
abusive circumstances, the outcome is the same. These children are 
robbed of their childhood, robbed of their education, robbed of their 
future. And in the countries where this takes place, the cycle of 
poverty is perpetuated.
  A nation can neither achieve nor sustain prosperity on the backs of 
its children. In the global economy, the exploitation of children must 
not be tolerated under any circumstances or for any reason.
  When children are exploited for the economic gains of others, 
everybody loses--the children lose, their families lose, their country 
loses, the world loses. When even one child is exploited, every one of 
us is diminished. That is why in 2001, after reading investigative 
reports by Knight-Ridder exposing the magnitude of forced child labor 
on cocoa farms in West Africa, I resolved to do what we 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 
is what has become known as the Harkin-Engel Protocol--a public-private 
partnership to tackle the problem of child labor on nearly 1.5 million 
small cocoa farms in four African countries, beginning with Ghana and 
the Ivory Coast.
  One might ask why we are so interested in that. Think about this: 60 
percent of all of the chocolate consumed in America--think about our 
Hershey bars, the chocolates we eat, the cocoa we make, chocolate that 
goes into cakes, whatever it is--60 percent of all of that we consume 
in America comes from two countries: the Ivory Coast and Ghana. How 
many people, when

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they bite into that chocolate or eat that chocolate bar or that piece 
of chocolate cake or drink some cocoa in the morning, know they got 
that through abusive child labor--kids 10 years of age with knife cuts, 
machetes taking off their fingers, not being allowed to go to school, 
forced to work in terrible conditions in these cocoa fields just so we 
can have chocolate to eat. Is that something we are proud of?
  So we developed this protocol to begin the process of getting them 
out of this kind of work.
  Again, we have made some progress. The joint efforts of the 
stakeholders failed to rise to a level to match the magnitude of the 
challenge. This is what an independent study by Tulane University in 
2010 concluded:

       Despite the concerted efforts of the various stakeholders--

  One of them being us--

     it is evident that much more work is required and the 
     majority of children exposed to the worst forms of child 
     labor remains unreached by the remediation activities 
     currently in place.

  That was reported by Tulane University. The study noted that over 1 
million children were trapped in exploitative labor in the cocoa sector 
of just those two countries.
  I was determined to take steps to accelerate our progress. To that 
end, in September of 2010 we worked--again with ILAB--to develop a 
framework of action that sets the goal of reducing the worst forms of 
child labor in the cocoa industry in those two countries, Ivory Coast 
and Ghana, to reduce it by 70 percent by 2020. The framework is a 
cooperative effort by the governments of the United States, Ivory 
Coast, Ghana, the international labor organizations, the cocoa 
industry, and civil society groups, including labor unions. To 
initially fund this effort, the U.S. Government agreed to provide $10 
million in new funding. In turn, the international chocolate and cocoa 
industry has committed an additional $20 million toward this endeavor.
  This is truly a historic step with the key stakeholders--the national 
governments, the industry, the Department of Labor--working as partners 
to intensify efforts to combat the scourge of child labor in the cocoa 
fields. Together, key stakeholders have undertaken a sustainable 
remediation process that includes better schooling and training 
opportunities for these young people, measures to improve occupational 
safety and health related to cocoa production, and livelihood services 
to vulnerable families.
  Additionally, the framework creates true accountability. It 
establishes benchmarks with audits and puts in place a credible, 
transparent monitoring system in 100 percent of cocoa-growing regions 
in the two countries. The stakeholders also produce an annual report 
documenting programs in the field.
  I am proud of ILAB's determined work in reducing the worst forms of 
child labor. We should all be proud of these efforts. We and our 
partners around the world have made significant progress in the 
monumental task of eliminating this scourge of child labor. Since the 
year 2000, we have reduced the number of child laborers from 246 
million to 168 million--a reduction of almost one-third, or 78 million.
  I especially wish to thank former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for 
her great leadership during this period of time that we were hammering 
out these agreements and these frameworks. I also thank the present 
Secretary of Labor Tom Perez for his continued support and leadership 
of ILAB. I might also mention Carol Pier, who heads the International 
Labor Affairs Bureau, for her dynamic leadership in working to reduce 
these worst forms of child labor not just in Ghana and the Ivory Coast 
but around the world.
  I might also add that we began, annually--actually, sometimes 
semiannually--with the governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, as 
well as with the cocoa industry--and I must say I am very encouraged by 
both of these countries.
  I might especially point out Ghana. Ghana has done remarkably well. 
They are moving in the right direction in reducing this child labor and 
providing support for education. The Ivory Coast has now come--Cote 
d'Ivoire, as they call it, is now coming along really well. They have 
had some problems in the past. They have had some civil wars, 
disruptions in their economy. Now the new President and especially the 
First Lady of the Ivory Coast have really taken on this goal of 
reducing child labor in the Ivory Coast. I compliment both countries 
for their work with us and with the cocoa industry.
  I compliment the cocoa industry as well. They are working as a true 
partner to try to meet that goal of reducing child labor by 70 percent 
by the year 2020.
  I thank Tulane University for their investigations--for their 
monitoring, I should say, more than investigations--their monitoring of 
this process and getting us the true picture of what is happening.
  I think all of this demonstrates that when we work together in a 
bipartisan way, we can confront some of the worst human rights abuses 
that exist. On the issue of forced and abusive child labor, we are 
resolved to act without regard to party affiliation and with high 
regard for the interests of children trapped in abusive labor.
  As we are all aware, I am retiring from the Senate next year, but I 
assure my colleagues that I am not retiring from this fight. I will 
find some way to continue to be involved, to help make sure we reach 
those goals of reducing child labor by 70 percent by 2020 in both of 
those countries, and to use that also as a springboard for further 
kinds of cooperative efforts with governments around the world to get 
kids out of this terrible scourge of child labor.
  Again, we have to ensure that ILAB has the resources to continue 
effective U.S. efforts. I look forward to working with my colleagues 
later this year to finally authorize ILAB so that it has the tools it 
needs to get children out of these abusive circumstances and into 
schools where they can gain the knowledge and skills they need not only 
to build a decent life for themselves but to break the cycle of poverty 
in the countries in which they live. It has been a vicious cycle of 
poverty and using and exploiting these kids. They don't learn, they 
don't go to school, they become impoverished, and the cycle just 
continues and continues. We have to break that.
  In countries where they break that cycle, we have seen they then 
enter a virtuous cycle where the kids go to school. They learn. They 
become educated. They are then able to perform jobs with higher skills. 
They then bring in people to do some of these jobs that are paid a 
decent wage. They are adults. And we find that the whole country 
progresses because it is a virtuous cycle, not a vicious cycle.
  Again, on this day, June 12, which is, as I said, called World Day 
Against Child Labor, it is good for us to pause and think about our own 
policies in this country and what we are doing to help the rest of the 
world, not in a punitive way of hitting someone over the head but by 
working together to solve what people thought was an intractable 
problem of kids not going to school, being forced into terrible labor 
conditions. It is time for us to think about how we work with other 
countries to help solve this problem.
  If we read the history of the United States, we know we had terrible 
child labor problems in this country back in the 19th century. In the 
1800s we can see all kinds of pictures of kids working in our mills, 
working on road crews. Again, when we finally stopped it--and it is 
amazing that the arguments we heard then against stopping child labor 
are some of the same arguments we hear now about stopping it in other 
countries. We entered a virtuous cycle of educating our youth, getting 
them into schools. That led to higher incomes, led to a better gross 
national product, enabled us to become the most powerful, well-educated 
country in the history of the world. There are so many countries that 
would like to do that. They need our help. They need our support. 
Through our Department of Labor and the International Labor Affairs 
Bureau we can give them that kind of help and that kind of support so 
other countries can finally put an end to this scourge of child labor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Graham be allowed to engage in a colloquy with me and that we may take 
such time as we may consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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