    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 2, 1999]
    [Pages 2194-2197]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Child Labor Convention Signing Ceremony in Seattle
    December 2, 1999

        Thank you, Secretary Herman; Mr.
    Samovia, thank you for your leadership; John
    Sweeney, Ambassador Tom Niles; all the Members of Congress here; Governor Locke; I would like to begin--I have to make a brief statement
    about Ireland, but before I do, just to illustrate the depth of support
    here, I'd like to ask all the Members of Congress who are here to stand
    and be recognized, and thank them for their help.

    Northern Ireland Peace Process

        Before I make my statement about this important convention, I'd like
    to say a few words about the truly remarkable and historic events taking
    place today in Northern Ireland. Eighteen months ago today the Good
    Friday agreement was signed with the promise of a future of peace and
    hope. Today the promise is being realized. The people of Northern
    Ireland now have the power to shape their own destiny and choose their
    own future. Democratic government by and for all the people of Northern
    Ireland is

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    now replacing suspicion, fear, and violence. It is now possible to
    believe that the day of the gun and the bomb are, in fact, over.
        There are many leaders who deserve special tribute for their
    contributions, but I would like to mention especially David
    Trimble and John Taylor, John Hume and Seamus
    Mallon, Gerry Adams
    and Martin McGuinness, John
    Alderdice, Monica McWilliams, David Ervine and Gary
    McMichael and so many others.
        I would also like to thank Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Ahern, their
    predecessors, John Major, John Bruton, Albert Reynolds. I thank Sir
    John de Chastelain for his work. I thank
    the special envoys to Northern Ireland, Ms. Mowlam and Mr. Mandelson, for
    the work they have done. And especially I thank our great American
    leader there, George Mitchell, whose
    patience, commitment, and conviction were essential to making this day
    happen.
        The Good Friday agreement must continue to be implemented in full,
    in word and in spirit. The United States must continue and will continue
    to stand with all those who are unequivocally committed to the pursuit
    of peace and justice and democracy in Northern Ireland. This is our
    common responsibility to the children there, whose future is the best
    reason for all that has been done.
        Let me say that the United States is the home of the largest Irish
    diaspora in the world. Many of us claim Irish heritage. For all the
    years and all the bloodshed, to have the promise of being over today,
    this is an especially meaningful day for Irish-Americans, and I thank
    you very much.

    ILO Child Labor Convention

        I'd like to begin this day by thanking all the Members of the
    Senate. Thank you, Senator Murray, for being
    here. And I want to thank the Republicans, as well as the Democrats, who
    voted on this together. But I would be remiss if I did not say that the
    first person who ever discussed this issue with me in 1992 when we were
    both running for the office I am privileged to hold was Senator Tom
    Harkin of Iowa. And for more than 7 years now, at
    every occasion, he has talked to me about this issue. It has been truly
    one of the driving passions of his life, and without him we would not be
    here doing this today. And I would like to ask him to stand.
        Thank you, Senator Harkin. Thank you.
        I also want to thank Secretary Herman
    and Gene Sperling and Karen
    Tramontano for what they did in our
    administration to spearhead the effort. Perhaps there is no better way
    to conclude my visit here, because what we celebrate this morning
    symbolizes in many ways what we're seeking in the launch of a new round
    of trade talks, not just to lower barriers but to raise living
    standards, to help ensure that people everywhere feel they have a
    positive stake in global trade that gives them and their children a
    chance for a better life.
        We are here in Seattle to continue our efforts to help establish a
    new consensus on international trade that leads to jobs that are secure,
    development that is sustainable, prosperity that is broadly shared. We
    seek to widen the circle of opportunity, deepen our commitments to human
    rights and human freedom, and put a human face on the global economy.
        Some say that it is not possible, that the interests of nations,
    businesses, and labor, within and across national borders, are too
    divergent. This child labor convention proves that, at least on this
    profoundly important issue, it is possible. It is a living example of
    how we can together come to level up global standards and lift up core
    labor values.
        The step we take today affirms fundamental human rights. Ultimately,
    that's what core labor standards are all about, not an instrument of
    protectionism or a vehicle to impose one nation's values on another but
    about our shared values, about the dignity of work, the decency of life,
    the fragility and importance of childhood.
        In my State of the Union Address almost 2 years ago, I asked
    Congress to help make the United States a world leader in this cause and
    to start by working to end abusive child labor. We are making good on
    that effort. Together, again across party lines, we secured the largest
    investment in American history to end abusive child labor around the
    globe.
        We're establishing the first-ever United States Government
    purchasing ban on goods made by forced or indentured child labor, and
    we've beefed up enforcement to stop the importation of goods made by
    such labor. Just last week, the Customs Service banned the importation
    of certain hand-rolled cigarettes, known as bidis, because of evidence
    that one firm was making them with bonded child labor.
        Today we build on our achievements and our common commitment. This
    convention is truly

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    a victory for labor, for business, and for Government, for all those who
    worked long and hard for 2 year to reach a consensus; a victory for the
    nations of the world who joined together in the ILO this summer to adopt
    this convention on a unanimous vote. Today we say with one clear voice:
    Abusive child labor is wrong and must end.
        Above all, of course, this is a victory for the children of the
    world, and especially for the tens of millions of them who are still
    forced to work in conditions that shock the conscience and haunt the
    soul; children brutalized by the nightmare of prostitution; children
    indentured to manufacturers working against debt for wages so low they
    will never be repaid; children who must handle dangerous chemicals or
    who are forced to sell illegal drugs; children who crawl deep into
    unsafe mines; children who are forcibly recruited into armed conflicts
    and then spend the rest of their entire lives bearing the scars of
    committing murder when they were 8 or 9 or 10 years old.
        For the first time, this convention calls on the international
    community to take immediate and effective steps to stop the worst forms
    of child labor. This convention enables the world to say, no more. We
    recognize, of course, that no treaty or convention is enough and that to
    end abusive child labor once and for all we must untangle the pathology
    of grinding poverty and hopelessness that lies at its root. If we want
    to slam the door shut on abusive child labor, we must open the door wide
    to education and opportunity. After all, nations can only reach their
    potential when their children can fulfill theirs.
        John Sweeney put it best when he said
    economic development is based in education, and school is the best place
    for children. That's why this convention places a priority on basic
    education, and we are trying to honor that priority.
        Around the world, we are investing in creative solutions to get
    children out of abusive workrooms and into classrooms. We are giving
    them a way out of the soccer ball industry in Pakistan, the shoe
    industry in Brazil, the fireworks industry in Guatemala. We are giving
    them back the most precious gift of all, their childhood.
        And as we work to provide both boys and girls access to schools, we
    are also working to provide their parents with viable economic
    alternatives and access to jobs. In Pakistan, for example, when 7,000
    children moved out of the soccer ball manufacturing plant into the
    schools, 7,000 parents moved into jobs they didn't have before, at
    better incomes.
        Microcredit loans help people in developing countries, and women in
    particular, to start businesses, raise their standard of living, build a
    better life for their children. I am proud that through the Agency for
    International Development, the United States financed 2 million such
    loans last year. So we have here not only the Secretary of Labor but the Secretary of Commerce. We see this not only as a labor issue but a business and
    an economic issue. We believe that everyone will be better off when
    children are given back their childhoods.
        We are working to integrate the agenda, also, as all of you know, of
    the World Trade Organization, the IMF, and the World Bank with the
    agenda of the ILO. That is key to making sure that the issues of child
    labor and core labor standards, more generally, are on the international
    economic agenda, and they don't become either/or conflicts. That's why
    ensuring the rights, the basic rights of labor, is central to our
    mission here in Seattle.
        This is a good day for the children of the world, but we can make
    tomorrow even a better day. We can do it by seeing that other nations
    also ratify this treaty and join in our cause, and we can do it by
    building on the solid foundation of this convention and the common
    ground forged by leaders here in the work of the WTO, the IMF, the World
    Bank, and other international institutions. We have to harness the
    spirit of progress and the sense of possibility that this noble document
    embodies. We can light the way out of the darkness of abusive child
    labor into the dawn of a new century of promise for all the children of
    the world.
        Thank you very much.
        They've elected me to say this. I would like to ask Mr.
    Sweeney and Ambassador Niles and all of the Members of the Congress, the Governor and
    Secretary Daley, Secretary Slater, to come up and join us as we do this signing,
    please.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:10 a.m. at the Bell Harbor International
    Conference Center. In his remarks, he referred to Juan Samovia, director
    general, International Labor Organization; John J. Sweeney, president,
    AFL-CIO; former U.S. Ambassador to Greece Thomas M.T. Niles, president,
    U.S. Council for Business; Gov. Gary Locke

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    of Washington; David Trimble, leader, and John Taylor, member, Ulster
    Unionist Party; Social Democratic and Labor Party members John Hume and
    Seamus Mallon; Gerry Adams, leader, and Martin McGuinness, member, Sinn
    Fein; Alliance Party leader Lord John Alderdice; Monica McWilliams of
    the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition; Progressive Unionist Party
    spokesman David Ervine; Ulster Democratic Party leader Gary McMichael;
    Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Prime Minister John Major of the
    United Kingdom; Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and former Prime Ministers
    John Bruton and Albert Reynolds of Ireland; Gen. John de Chastelain,
    Canadian Defense Forces, chair, Independent International Commission on
    Decommissioning; former United Kingdom Secretary of State for Northern
    Ireland Marjorie Mowlam and her successor, Peter Mandelson; and former
    Senator George J. Mitchell, who chaired the multiparty talks in Northern
    Ireland. The convention was entitled the International Labor
    Organization Convention No. 182, Convention Concerning the Prohibition
    and Immediate Action for Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.