[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 45 (Monday, November 15, 1999)]
[Page 2275]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Senate Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of 
the Worst Forms of Child Labor

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 (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.

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