On 6 May 2019, Director-General of ILO, Mr. Guy Ryder awarded Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour with the ILO Recognition Award along with awarding the 50 for Freedom Campaign. In his address, he remarked “Today’s award ceremony is a celebration to honour the remarkable contributions that ILO colleagues have made in realizing the mandate of our Organization to advance social justice and promote decent work,”

The Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour (RI) was established in 2014, after the III Global Conference on Child Labour (Brasilia, 2013) and before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, as an intergovernmental cooperation instrument that builds on more than 20 years of regional experience on the prevention and eradication of child labour. Its objective is to foster innovative strategies against child labour and contribute to achieving Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda.

Presenting the winner, Deborah Greenfield said: “The innovation of this initiative lies in its comprehensive strategy that incorporates a threefold approach to prevention, withdrawal and restitution of rights to child labourers. It also developed an innovative tripartite partnership model creating good synergies through a set of new institutional approaches.