[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

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(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.