ILO and Worst Forms of Child Labor

- Sanket Jamuar1*

International Labour organization (ILO) was founded back in the year 1999 as a part of “Treaty
of Versailles” which ended the First World War. The Labour provisions of the peace treaty
directed the formation of a Labour organization which could ensure socio-economic justice for
every section of the society through a tripartite working medium. At the time of its creation,
League of Nations (LON) was its parent body but with dissolution of LON following the Second
World War; ILO was its only organ which survived and found its place as one of the major
specialized agencies of the United Nation (UN).
ILO has till date declared 190 conventions and 206 recommendation in total of which 8
conventions have identified as fundamental in nature. Conventions are the set of rules and
regulation which once ratified by a member nation of ILO, becomes binding in nature whereas
recommendations are mere guidelines which supplement the convention at the time of their
enforcement.
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention was adopted on seventeenth day of June in the year
1999 for immediate prohibition of the worst forms of child labour. Article 3 of the convention
defined in detail as to what could be referred as worst forms of child labour. Child in the
convention is someone who is below the age of 18. As of 2019, 182 out 187 member countries of
the ILO have ratified the convention.
The research work covers in detail, the provision of the convention as well as the effectiveness of
those provisions. An attempt has been given to identify the major changes which the convention
has brought along with the future challenges which it awaits.
The objective of the research paper is to know about the provisions of the convention and to
know the ideas and objectives which it aims to reach. Research on this topic would also broaden
my perspective on the matters of child labour and it might guide me towards working on the
worsening condition of children in the world.

1 * 2nd year B.A LL.B student at Hidayatullah Natinal Law University, Raipur. I wiuld like ti thank my ci-authir
Arsh Kaul fir his valuable inputs. All errirs, hiwever, silely remains mine. I can be cintacted at
sanketjamuar.sj@gmail.cim fir any clarifcatin/feedback.
 Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 2

International Labor Organization…………………………………………… 2

Founding Principles of ILO……………………….……………. 3

Preamble of ILO………………………………………………... 4

Aims of ILO……………………………………………………… 5

Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention…………………………………… 5

Preamble of WFCL……………………………………………… 7

Important provision of the convention at a glance ……………… 8

What are the worst Forms of Child Labor……………………….………….. 9

WFCL Convention and India………………………………………………....10

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………....11

Introduction

1
International Labor Organization introduced a convention for the elimination of worst forms of
child labor in the year 1999. The convention aimed at immediate elimination of worst forms of
child labor. The most recent estimates of ILO says that there are still 215 million child laborers
which grossly violated the international standard. There are numerous reasons which forces a
child into labor but the most fundamental reason has been observed to economic backwardness
and poverty. This data is further supported by the country-wise estimates of the child labor which
shows that children of under-developed and developing countries are more likely to be a victim
of child labor. Sometimes, children from one nation are illegally transported to another nation
where they are sold as slaves or are forced into prostitution. Thus, an international attempt was
required to resolve this issue where every participating nation could help each other.

International Labor organization

International Labor organization (ILO) is an agency of United Nations (UN) whose aim is to
promote social justice by advancing uniform labor standards throughout the world. The sui
generis tripartite working mechanism of the ILO makes it more effective in discussing key issues
and finding solutions to them. The tripartite mechanism includes representatives of the
government (policy makers), representative of employers (labor seekers) and the representative
of the workers (labor providers). ILO provides a platform where employees can discuss about the
key issue of the working condition which they need to get and employers discuss about the
prospects through which their demand can be met and the representatives of the government
make policies based of the outcomes of the discussion between the two. The whole process is
conducted in a democratic manner. As a result, ILO has drafted more than two hundred
conventions which have binding effect once they are ratified by the member nations. It has also
issued more than hundred recommendations which supplements those conventions and provide
guidelines which should be followed by the countries for the implementations of the
conventions.

2
ILO was founded back in the year 1919 under the parentage of League of Nations following the
end of the First World War under part XIII of the treaty of Versailles 2 which ended the First
World War. The peace treaty signed after the First World War was significantly dominated by
the Trade Unions and Labor Unions like American Federation of Labor (AFL). It was headed by
Samuel Gompers3 who demanded an International organization for labors which could safeguard
the interests of the working class by advancing their interest so that a socially just society could
be shaped. The result was the foundation of International Labor Organization.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, League of Nations (LON) was replaced by the
United Nations in 1945 and ILO was the only organ of League of Nations which survived and
found its place as one of the nodal agencies of the United Nations. Today, ILO has 187 member
states. The Constitution of ILO was drafted by Labor Commission, chaired by Samuel Gompers.
The commission included people from nine nations: Belgium, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France,
Italy, Japan, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States4.The headquarter of the
International labor organization is in Geneva, Switzerland where it employees around 2700
officials from over 150 countries5.

2 Histiry if ILO, Internatinal Labiur Organizatin, (2019), htpss//www.ili.irg/glibal/abiut-the-ili/histiry/lang--

en/index.htm
3 Abiut Internatinal Labir Organizatin, Internatinal Agencies,
(2019),htpss//www.natinsencyclipedia.cim/United-Natins-Related-Agencies/The-Internatinal-Labiur-
Organizatin-ILO-CREAATION.html
4 Supra 2
5 Departments and ifces, Abiut the ILO, (2019) htpss//www.ili.irg/glibal/abiut-the-ili/hiw-the-ili-
wirks/departments-and-ifces/lang--en/index.htm

3
 Founding Principles of International Labor Organization

Part- XIII of the Treaty of Versailles laid the principles on which the ILO was founded.6 The
principles are following-

Peace can only be ensured by ensuring social justice all across the world and social
justice could only be ensured by providing equitable working condition to the workers.
Labor conditions should be regulated internationally because if any nation fails to ensure
human condition for workers then it will become a hindrance for other nations desire to
achieve those human conditions.
Some methods to improve the condition of labor were also given-

 Prescribing maximum number of working days in a week

 Mitigating Unemployment
 Provisions for identifying minimum wages which must be paid to the
workers to sustain their healthy living.
 Protection of laborers from hazards viz., diseases, sickness, injuries
during work etc.
 Provisions for protection of women, children, old age workers and young
people.

To achieve the objectives and to implement these principles, the founding peace treaty prescribed
establishment of a permanent organization and thus, ILO was founded in 1919. Article 1 of the
ILO constitution therefore envisages that “A permanent organization is hereby established for
the promotion of the objectives set forth in the preamble to this constitution”.7

Preamble of International Labor Organization

6 Abiut ILO, Internatinal labir irganizatin, (2019)

htpss//shidhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/81113/13/13cchapter2204.pdf
7 Obectves if ILO, Abiut ILO (2019) htpss//www.ili.irg/dyn/nirmlex/en/f?
p=1000s62s0ssNOs62sP62cLISTcEANTRIEAcIDs2453907sNO

4
The preamble of the ILO constitution which was largely dominated by the peace treaty of 1919
and later from the Philadelphia declaration of 1944 envisages the objectives of ILO. 8They very
first line of the preamble clearly says that “long lasting universal peace can only be established if
it is backed by social justice.” 9 History has already given us so many examples of violent clashes
started because of prevailing social injustice. The preamble of the ILO envisages the aims and
objectives which it pursues to advance through its creation.

Aims of the International Labor Organization

The central aim of the ILO is the welfare of the laborers as reaffirmed by the Philadelphia
conference which was held in 1944 under the aegis of Philadelphia declaration on which
International Labor Organization is based.

 Labor is not a commodity – This means that laborers/workers should not be treated as a
commodity, capital, a factor of production or a resources (These terms are in vogue
even now) but should rather be treated as what they are; as human beings.
 Freedom to form association- It is protected under freedom of expression and is
essential for a sustained growth. Prohibition of any manner against forming of workers
association at workplace is murder of the right to speech and expression of the workers.
 Elimination of poverty- The founding members of ILO observed that poverty anywhere
is a threat to prosperity everywhere as poverty causes unrest in the society and unrest in
any manner due to any cause is a threat to global peace and harmony.
 The war against want requires to be carried on with unrelenting vigor within each
nation, and by continuous and concerted international effort in which the representatives
of workers and employers, employing equal status with those of governments, join with
them in free discussion and democratic decision with a view to the promotion of
common welfare.10
81 Supra 5
9 Supra 6
10 M. Maheswara Swamy,“Impact if I.L.O standards in Indian Labiur” 2007, p.281

5
Worst Forms of Child Labor

6
Children in society has always been a topic less discussed. Every day, throughout the world,
around 265 million children go out and work. 11 They do not have proper nutrition and access to
education. Child Labor is an international problem gaining much attention in developed,
developing and under developed countries since long. It is not a contemporary issue of modern
digital world rather it has deep roots in history. It has been dominant since pre-industrial time
especially agricultural labor. Child labor is a very sensitive and complex issue and needs to be
dealt with accordingly as a matter of priority.

The term “child labor” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their
potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development. 12 Worst
forms of child labor are when children are enslaved or exposed to hazardous work harming the
health, safety and morals of the children.

Governments have enacted legislations in compliance with various guidelines issued by the
International Labor Organization (ILO) from time to time placing severe restrictions and heavy
punishments upon those employing children in child labor. Various international organizations
and social work activists have been working day and night for ensuring a progressive life to these
poor innocent kids. The fight against child labor is old as the problem is and significant results
have been achieved too but despite various efforts, the problem is still subsisting especially in the
developing world.

From forced labor convention in 1930 to the resolution concerning the elimination of child labor
adopted by the International Labor Conference at its 83rd Session in 1996, ILO has taken
significant steps for abolition of child labor in the world. In continuation of this aspiration and
considering the immediate need for national and international action for prohibition and
elimination of worst forms of child labor from the world, The Convention concerning the
Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor
(known as the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention) was adopted by the International
Labor Organization (ILO) as ILO Convention no.182 on 17 th June, 1999. Till date, 186 countries
have ratified this convention. The only exception here is Tonga. ILO’s International Programme
on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) is responsible for assisting the signatory countries in

11 Abiut Child labir, Child labir (2019), htpss//iurwirldindata.irg/child-labir

12 Abiut ILO, Facts abiut ILO, (2019), htpss//www.ili.irg/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm

7
further functioning. The convention focusses on poverty alleviation – the root cause of this
problem. It aims at ensuring sustainable economic growth with special focus on access to free
basic education in order to ensure bright future of downtrodden kids. Article 3 of the
convention13 defines worst forms of child labor for the purpose of this convention. Every
member ratifying this convention will have to urgently take action to prohibit and eliminate
worst forms of child labor in their country.14 This paper seeks to analyze the specifics of this
convention.

Preamble of worst forms of child labor convention

13 Wirst Firms if Child Labir Cinventin, Cinventin, (2019), htpss//www.ili.irg/wcmsp5/griups/public/---

edcnirm/---declaratin/dicuments/publicatin/wcmscdeclcfsc46cen.pdf
14 Artcle 1, Wirst Firms if Child Labir Cinventin Ni-1812

81
The preamble contains the fundamental spirit and vision of the convention. In a general term, it
can be called as the “Identity card of the convention”. The preamble of this convention reveals
four central ingredients to the readers-

 Conference Session at which the convention was adopted

 Aims and objectives of the convention
 Reasons which led to the introduction of this convention
 Date on which the convention was adopted

Conference session- The convention was adopted at the General Conference of the international
Labor organization which convened at Geneva, Switzerland by the governing body of
International Labor office which met for the 87th time on 1st June, 1999

Aims and objectives- To adopt a new instruments for the prohibition and elimination of the
worst forms of child labor, as the main priority for national and international action, including
international cooperation and assistance, to complement the Convention and the
Recommendation concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, 1973, which
remained fundamental instruments on child labor, and Considering that the effective elimination
of the worst forms of child labor requires immediate and comprehensive action, taking into
account the importance of free basic education and the need to remove the children concerned
from all such work and to provide for their rehabilitation and social integration while addressing
the needs of their families.15

Reasons because of which the convention was adopted- Rampant increase in the cases of child
labor and new forms of child exploitations were the basic reasons which led to the adoption of
the convention. The Forcing children into Pornography and armed conflict etc. needed a separate
convention which was explicitly drafted to counter them. Through this convention, they were
included in the “worst forms of child labor” which directed the ratifying nations to introduce a
domestic legislation on these issues.

Date of adoption- The closing sentence of the convention states that “The body adopts on
seventeenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, 1999.

15 Supra 6

9
 Important Provisions of the Convention at a glance

Article 1 of the Convention states that any member of the ILO which ratifies this convention
“must take effective and immediate steps to secure the elimination and prohibition of the Worst
Forms of Child Labor as a matter of urgency”. By taking the latest data in account, we can
conclude that around 182 nations have ratified the convention and thus they have taken effective
measure for the elimination of the same.

Article 2 of the Convention very clearly says that for the purpose of this convention, the term
‘Child’ shall mean a person who is below 18 years of age.16

Article 3 of the convention can be said to be the most important article as it defines what worst
forms of child labor includes. It identifies them as-

 ‘slavery’ in any of its form and the practices related to it

 Using, procuring and offering of child for prostitution and pornography
along with the similar practices related to them
 Using, procuring and offering of a child for illicit activities such as drug
trafficking etc.
 The works which are likely to harm health, morals or safety of a child

This article being the most important provision of the convention, it has been extensively and
separately dealt under the coming heading.

Article 6 directed each member to plan and implement effective plans to mitigate worst forms
of child labor as a matter of priority. It further directed that the plan should be made only after
consultation with the governmental and non-governmental agencies along with the employers
and workers.

Article 7 of the convention says that not only a proper plan should be made to eliminate worst
forms of child labor but also provisions should be made to rehabilitate them and to integrate
16 Supra 13

10
them back with the society. It says that time bound measure should be adopted through which
their success can be assessed from time to time. It says that special provisions should be made
for a girl child. Education being the savior of the helpless has been identified as the central
method to help those children to combat back from that situation.

Article 8 lays down a very special provision which directs every member nation to assist one
another it implementation of the convention. This makes the convention ‘international’ in a
true sense.

What are the Worst Forms of Child labor?

Article 3 of the convention talk about worst form of child labor which includes all forms of
slavery, trafficking of children, child prostitution, and children employed in illicit and hazardous

11
activities. In general, hazardous work may include work with dangerous machinery, equipment,
and tools, night work and long hours of work, sexual abuse and work in unhealthy environment.

Child labor decelerate the sustainable development and anathema to just societies, and its
eradication must be pursued with utmost dedication. According to the International Labor
organization data in its 2013 world report on child labor there are around 265 million working
children in the world – almost 17% of the worldwide child population. 17 Child labor remains a
disease and its elimination requires both economic and social reform as well as will of
governments, international organizations and civil society at large.

According to Global estimates on child labor 2012-2016 a total of 152 million children – 64
million girls and 88 million boys – are in child labor across the world, accounting for almost one
in ten of all children worldwide. Nearly half of all those in child labor i.e. 73 million children are
in hazardous work that directly endangers their safety, health and development. There is a strong
correlation between disaster and conflict affected areas and child labor. The Africa region which
has been most affected by situations of conflict and disaster, there we see the highest risk of child
labor. The Africa and Asia and the pacific regions are host to nine out of every ten children in
child labor.18 The age breakdown of children in child labor, indicates that 48 per cent of all those
in child labor are in the 5–11 years age bracket, 28 per cent are aged 12–14 years, and 25 per
cent fall into the 15–17 years age range.

The agricultural sector accounts for highest number of child labor as agriculture is family based
employment system where every member of family can contribute. The poor thinks that with
every child, an extra helping hand is created which will benefit economically and financially.
This type of child labor remains unnoticed to a large extent as it becomes very difficult to
determine what a child actually serves. Understanding and addressing family reliance on
children’s labor will therefore be critical to broader progress towards ending child labor.

Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention and India

17 Data in child labir, Child labir, (2019), htpss//iurwirldindata.irg/child-labir

181 Repirts in ILO, Internatinal Labir Organizatin, (2019),
htpss//ili.irg/wcmsp5/griups/public/@dgrepirts/@dcimm/dicuments/publicatin/wcmsc575499.pdf

12
After nearly two decades of wait, India finally ratified the ‘worst forms of child labor convention
No-182’ in June, 2017. According to the census report of 2001, there we nearly 12.6 million
child laborers between the ages of 5 to 14.19 However, this number dropped to 4.35 million in
2011. Now that this convention has also been ratified, a more convincing result may be sought.
However, there is not data yet which shows the success or failure of the policies based on this
convention in India. After the ratification, India’s Labor and Employment minister ‘Bandaru
Duttatreya’ said that “It is a historic moment for India as we are going to take another giant step
to affirm our commitment for a child labor free India by ratifying the two core conventions of
International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 138 regarding admission of age to
employment and Convention 182 regarding worst forms of child labor”. 20 India became 181st
country to ratify the convention.

Conclusion

International Labor Organization working on a unique three dimensional structure has always
strived towards making a socially just society where every section of the society is saved from
the hands of the exploiters. Childhood being the most vulnerable state of humans, it was
necessary to lay special emphasis on their tutelage. Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention
exhaustively dealt with this issue and to a great extent, it has safeguarded there interests in the

19 India ratfes twi child labir cinventin, pilicy, (2017),

htpss//ecinimictmes.indiatmes.cim/news/ecinimy/pilicy/india-ratfes-twi-child-labiur-
cinventins/artcleshiw/59134572.cms?frim=mdr
20 Ibid

13
best way possible. As it has already been discussed in this paper that child labor is not a new
phenomenon but it is something which has been there since time immemorial, it is important for
us to understand that there has always been a transformation in the ways through which the
children have been exploited. Thus, a law-maker should always be dynamic in his approach and
a time-to-time assessment of the conventions itself should be done.21 Any new provisions which
can further protect these innocent children with even a little more effectiveness should must be
inserted so that not only the generation of the time at which the convention was drafted are saved
but rather every generation is are protected. Success stories of the convention is everywhere, but
the failure stories should be identified. The identification of those stories should not only be
recorded as data but proper steps to tackle those loopholes should be made so that they might not
get repeated.

21 India ratfes wirst firms if child labir cinventin, labir, (2017),

htpss//www.thehindubusinessline.cim/ecinimy/pilicy/india-ratfes-twi-key-ili-cinventins-in-child-
labiur/artcle9726319.ece

14