100 Million for 100 Million

President of India Pranab Mukherjee marked his 81st birthday by launching a ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ Campaign organized by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation at Rashtrapati Bhavan on December 11, 2016. One of the major aims set for the International Labour Organization (ILO) at its foundation in 1919 was the abolition of child labour.

Historically, the ILO’s principal tool in pursuing the goal of effective abolition of child labour has been the adoption and supervision of labour standards that embody the concept of a minimum age for admission to employment or work. Furthermore, from 1919 onwards the principle that minimum age standards should be linked to schooling has been part of the ILO’s tradition in standard setting in this area.

Convention No. 138 provides that the minimum age for admission to employment shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling. Child labour that is proscribed under international law falls into three categories: The unconditional worst forms of child labour, which are internationally defined as slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, prostitution and pornography, and illicit activities; Labour performed by a child who is under the minimum age specified for that kind of work (as defined by national legislation, in accordance with accepted international standards), and that is thus likely to impede the child’s education and full development; and Labour that jeopardizes the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child, either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out, known as “hazardous work”.

The global effort to mobilise 100 million youth for shaping a better future of 100 million children who are less privileged is the beginning of a change. The campaign will run for five years, and is hoped to have a path-breaking impact on the lives of children across the globe. The ‘100 Million for 100 Million’ Campaign aims to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world, to end child labour, child slavery, violence against children and promote the right of every child to be safe, free, and educated, over the next 5 years.