The 26th World Congress of the IUF (i.e., the International Union of Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association) held in Geneva from 15-18 May 2012, passed a resolution to support the International Conference on Child Labour in Agriculture being organised by Global March Against Child Labour. Welcoming the step taken by Global March to host an International Conference on Child Labour in Agriculture, a sector that employs the largest number of children globally, the 26th IUF World Congress has resolved the following:
- To call on the IUF and affiliates to increase activities to ensure that TNCs (i.e., Trans-national Corporations) in IUF sectors commit to and work on elimination of child labour in their supply chains;
- To call on the IUF to lobby with the ILO and other relevant UN agencies to increase commitment to and action on elimination of child labour in agriculture, in particular to ensure that child labour in agriculture is specifically addressed in the Brazil 2013 conference;
- To call on the IUF and affiliates to support and participate in the Global March Conference
The International Conference will be held in Washington D.C. from 28-30 July, 2012. With the goal of catalysing action for the elimination of child labour in agriculture, the International Conference will see participation from UN agencies, farmer and out-grower organisations, trade unions, multi-stakeholder initiatives and the like.
The support extended by the IUF for the upcoming International Conference in Child Labour is major step and will help to bring about greater collaboration, knowledge and experience sharing with the Global Unions for protecting children from exploitation, particularly in agriculture.
