    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 5, 1999]
    [Pages 1996-1997]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Senate Ratification of the Child Labor Convention
    November 5, 1999

        I am pleased that the Senate has given its consent to ratification
    of the Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
    In June I traveled to Geneva for the annual meeting of the International
    Labor Organization

    [[Page 1997]]

    (ILO), where the business, labor, and government representatives to the
    ILO from countries around the world unanimously adopted this historic
    convention.
        With this action, the Senate has declared on behalf of the American
    people that we simply will not tolerate the worst forms of child labor:
    child slavery, the sale or trafficking of children, child prostitution
    or pornography, forced or compulsory child labor, and hazardous work
    that harms the health, safety, and morals of children. With this action,
    the United States continues as world leader in the fight to eliminate
    exploitative and abusive child labor. This also is another important
    step forward in our continuing efforts to put a human face on the global
    economy.
        I am particularly gratified by the bipartisan unanimity that carried
    this convention through the Senate from introduction to final approval.
    For this, I offer my sincere thanks to Senate Foreign Relations
    Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, Ranking Member
    Joe Biden, and especially Senator Tom
    Harkin, who has been America's leading advocate
    for the world's laboring children. I also want to make note of the
    special efforts of the U.S. representatives to the ILO: John
    Sweeney of the AFL-CIO, Thomas Niles of the United States Council for International
    Business, and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman. They worked as a superb team in negotiating a convention
    that should be widely ratified throughout the world. Such bipartisan
    support and the coordinated efforts of labor, business, and government
    are key to building a new consensus on our approach to international
    economic policy.