Child Labor
Tom Harkin is a leader in the growing movement to end abusive child labor around the globe, including here at home. As former President William Jefferson Clinton said, Tom Harkin is recognized worldwide as "the foremost advocate in the United States on the abolition of child labor."
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there were some 211 million children ages 5 to 14 years who were economically active in the world in 2000. Boys and girls work at similar rates, and an estimated 73 million working children are less than 10 years old. Some of these children work for a few hours a day, alongside their parents in family businesses, or perform light work that is not considered to be exploitative. Others, however, work under deplorable and abusive conditions, with little or no pay, and without the opportunity to go to school. They work on farms with pesticides and machetes, on the streets as child prostitutes, as child soldiers, in mines, as domestic servants, garbage dumps and brothels in situations that threaten their health, safety, and morals in forms of child labor recognized by the world community to be the "worst forms."
Senator Harkin has introduced several bills to combat the worst forms of child labor, and has negotiated a public-private partnership with the cocoa industry to combat abusive child labor overseas.
Important Harkin Initiatives in the Fight Against Child Labor:
Harkin-Engel Protocol
In September 2001, chocolate and cocoa industry representatives signed an agreement, developed in partnership with Senator Harkin and Representative Eliot Engel, to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derivative products wherever cocoa is grown. This agreement was precipitated by news reports that same year which described the abusive conditions in which children were forced to work in West Africa.
The agreement, known as the "Harkin-Engel Protocol," laid out a series of date-specific actions, including the development of credible, mutually acceptable, voluntary, industry-wide standards of public certification by July 1, 2005- to give a public accounting of labor practices in cocoa farming in West Africa.
The Harkin-Engel Protocol marked an important first -an entire industry including companies from the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, taking responsibility for addressing the worst forms of child labor in its supply chain.
Since the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed, some positive steps have been taken to address the worst forms of child labor in cocoa growing. These include the creation of the International Cocoa Initiative foundation, which is now beginning to form partnerships with NGOs to provide social protection programs in West Africa. Also, small pilot projects have been initiated, which will be assessed and used to develop a child labor monitoring system. While the July 1, 2005 deadline was not fully met, the cocoa industry representatives have assured Sen. Harkin and Rep. Engel that they are fully committed to achieving a certification system, which can be expanded across the cocoa-growing areas of West Africa and will cover 50% of the cocoa growing areas of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana within three years.
The Department of Labor's Annual Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor
In 2000, when Congress passed the Trade and Development Act (TDA) the United States affirmed its commitment to eliminate the worst forms of child labor by adopting an amendment I offered adding a new requirement to our trade preference programs for developing nations. The new eligibility criteria included a requirement that countries take steps to implement ILO Convention 182,"On the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor" in order to continue receiving US trade preferences.
Additionally, the amendment required the President to submit an annual report to the Congress on the status of the beneficiary country's implementation of its international commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.
The countries referenced in the legislation are those countries that receive trade benefits under the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), and includes GSP countries designated to receive additional benefits under the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act CBTPA) and African Growth and Development Act (AGOA). In addition, the 2004 report includes information on former GSP recipients that have negotiated free trade agreements with the United States over the last two years.
To find a copy of these reports visit: www.dol.gov/ILAB
Appropriations for Fighting Child Labor
Through his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Harkin has allocated over $200 million for the International Program on the Eliminate Child Labor (IPEC), a division of the International Labor Organization (ILO) that removes children from abusive labor situations around the world. Starting in 1996 with $1.5 million, IPEC's earmarks have grown to $45 million a year for three years in a row, starting in 2001.
Senator Harkin also ensured that the U.S. Customs Service received nearly $20 million over the years to combat child labor-made products, and has sent over $75 million to programs working to remove former child laborers from abusive conditions and provide them with educational opportunities.
U.S. Government Ban on Child Labor Product Usage
At Senator Harkin's urging, President Clinton issued an Executive Order in 1998 banning the U.S. Government from using items made by forced and indentured labor. It also requires the government to make a list of all items made with forced and indentured labor. This U.S. government ban is currently in place.
The ILO Treaty on Child Labor
In 1998, the U.S. Senate voted 96-0 to ratify the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Convention 18 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Harkin was the lead cosponsor and a testimony witness on behalf of the treaty, and the Senate ratified the treaty in only six months, which is record time. The treaty is also signed by 173 other countries, all of which agree to eliminate the practice of child labor. In 2000, Senator Harkin also sponsored an amendment that said no trade benefits could be granted to any country that does not meet or effectively enforce the standards in the ILO Treaty.
The Child Labor Deterrence Act
Harkin introduced the Child Labor Deterrence Act to Congress in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999. This bill would prohibit the importation of products that have been produced by child labor, and included civil and criminal penalties for violators.
The Child Labor Free Consumer Information Act
Tom introduced the Child Labor Free Consumer Information Act to Congress in 1996, 1997, 1999. This bill would empower consumers to make purchasing choices by instituting a voluntary labeling system for clothes and sporting goods made without child labor.
The Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act)
The CARE Act was introduced in 1998, 2000, and 2001. It would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to improve legal protections for children working in agriculture, increase civil and criminal penalties, and raise the age limit for youth-peddling to 16.
