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	Women play vital role in ending Child Labor by CARE   August 16, 2007   To fight the scourge of child labor, empower women. That’s a key finding of a report released today, “Caution: Children at Work,” by the international humanitarian organization CARE.   Worldwide, some 218 million children ages 5-17 are involved in child labor, according to UN statistics cited in the report. Of these, 126 million work in hazardous conditions — from toiling on coffee plantations to extracting ore from silver to working as domestic servants.   These children almost always come from extremely poor families who depend on their wages to survive. Maximizing the influence of the women in those families is a vital strategy in the fight against exploitative child labor, according to CARE.   “When a woman is empowered to provide a better alternative for her family, she can help ensure that her children go to school and escape from the trap of dangerous and dead-end jobs,” said CARE President and CEO Helene Gayle.   The report summarizes successful strategies CARE has developed over 15 years of working to combat child labor in 20 countries. Some of its findings:   * Women are more likely than men to be involved in projects combating child labor; they play a critical role in changing men’s attitudes about children working and in engaging them in efforts to prevent child labor   * Women bear the brunt of domestic labor shortages; helping them to develop alternative sources of income reduces their dependence on children’s wages.   * Women who are educated about the dangers of child migration, trafficking and labor are highly motivated to address the underlying causes of these problems   * Women’s involvement in their children’s education results in reduced dropout rates and better quality of instruction.   For example, in the mining area of Potosí, Bolivia, the association of female mine workers created a preschool center for their children. The women then arranged for the Ministry of Education to pay the teachers and for the local municipality to provide school breakfasts.   “We fought hard for the construction of the children’s center, so that our children could get help,” said Maria Choque, 33. “I want my children to study and one day to become professionals. I think it is important that women participate in all kinds of activities, because it helps us to become more aware and learn how best to raise our children.”   The report cites successful examples from Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Mali, Nicaragua and Togo. CARE’s findings include the need to strengthen community organizations; create village savings-and-loan programs that provide financial resources for mothers; create vocational training programs for children and their caregivers; launch small-enterprise projects; provide educational opportunities for parents, many of whom did not have the chance to attend school; and create associations to facilitate good relations between parents, children and teachers.   The report features young people like Eunide Joachim, 16, of Gros-Morne, Haiti, who has worked as a domestic servant since her mother died when she was 5 years old. She is enrolled in a vocational education program where she has learned to sew, and has participated in cultural activities, received counseling and attended summer camp.   “I really liked these activities; for the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to share my thoughts with other young people, to watch television, to go to performances and to talk in public,” she said. “I am valued more by my fellow students and my host family, and I also believe that my rights are more respected.” Visit the related web page
	Sustainable approach to growth crucial in Asia, says top UN official by International Labour Organization (ILO)   15 August 2007   A sustainable approach to development is crucial to keep pace with Asia’s economic growth, Director-General Juan Somavia of the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) said at a three-day conference wrapping up today in Beijing, calling for national measures across the continent to ensure social welfare.   The “job-weak growth” is “not politically sustainable over the long run because underlying it all are different forms of social tensions already expressing themselves in different ways,” he said in an address to delegates at an ILO Asian Forum on Growth, Employment and Decent Work.   The Forum is the first major gathering of senior government, labour and employer representatives from nearly two dozen countries in Asia and the Pacific since the launch of the Decent Work Decade at the ILO’s Asian regional meeting last year.   Participants – including representatives of finance and planning ministries, academics and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – discussed how create policies aimed to integrate sustainable development and decent work.   Mr. Somavia stressed that Asian countries share commonalities, and that the “time has come to strive for a social floor in every country according to its means, pursued as a systematic national and international development objective to expand the security of its people.”   For example, he cited as a strategy “a basic income, health care and education package – together with organization, rights at work and empowerment to voice and defend their interests.”   When combined, “these measures can no doubt enhance growth and productivity,” Mr. Somavia noted. “But they are also justified by the enormous growth in wealth creation that has been taking place.”   During the conference, participants also conferred on a new ILO report entitled “Visions for Asia''s Decent Work Decade: Sustainable Growth and Jobs to 2015” said that the continent’s vast labour force, already estimated at some 1.8 billion workers, is expected to grow by more than 200 million by the year 2015, posing a series of environmental, economic and social challenges to the region’s rapidly growing economies.   The report calls for an effective balance between flexibility, stability and security through improved labour market governance, including the adoption and adherence to international labour standards, improving accountability and transparency, and building the capacity of employers and workers to engage more effectively in serious dialogue.   It also warns that growth and sustainable development could be seriously undermined by environmental degradation, depletion of natural resources and climate change, and stresses the need for governments, employers and workers to develop policy tools aimed at achieving environmentally sustainable development and job creation.
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