Hard News on Committee Session #1

ILO COMMITTEE SESSION 1

WALL STREET JOURNAL

The ILO Council this morning talked about eradicating Hazardous Child Labour in which during the first Formal Debate the countries gave a speech regarding such a topic. Countries spoke about what their country has done in eradicating Hazardous Child Labour. Afterwards, three countries proposed three different motions, those of which were motions proposed by the DRC, Bangladesh, and China. The motion that passed was the motion proposed by the DRC which was ‘previous programs and their failures’. Numerous strong points were made, one of which was made by the delegate of the USA in which they said that implementation is one of the most important solutions in solving this problem and that law enforcement bodies don’t have the skills to regulate child labour places. In a brief interview, the USA states that they feel disappointed that other states simply ‘bring up issues with no concrete solution’. They also mentioned that in regards to solutions, they would say the internationalization of their own Youth Rules Initiative stating ‘Why create a whole new solution when we can just take what the USA has successfully done and implement it’.

Strong points were also made by the delegate of Rwanda in which they spoke about the “white saviour complex” as something that is damaging and suggests that trainers should undergo further training to avoid any misunderstanding when handling such delicate matters. Afterwards, three other countries namely the Netherlands, Brazil and Indonesia each proposed different motions. The motion that passed was by Brazil which was “Actions taken to mitigate Hazardous Child Labour”. Rwanda stresses that the lack of birth certificate and ID in rural areas should be addressed thus, they agree with other delegates that stronger monitoring systems should be implemented. USA on the other hand states that Rwanda still has high numbers of child labour and states that rules don’t matter if implementation stays the same. In a brief interview, the delegate of DRC states that they believe that international collaboration is important and they stressed that child labour within mining is one of the worst areas. They also believe the current programmes are not enough.