[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.