Johannesburg, May 17 (PTI): South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the countries of the world to unite in helping the International Labour Organisation (ILO) achieve its target of eliminating child labour by 2025.

Ramaphosa was addressing delegates at the 5th ILO Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour, which continues until Friday in the coastal city of Durban.

More than 4,000 delegates from governments, trade unions, the private sector, civil society, regional and international organisations, think tanks, academia, and youth and children from all over the world are debating measures that are needed to achieve this, although many agreed that total elimination is unlikely in the three years left since the first International Conference on Child Labour was held in Oslo in 1997.

“The ILO has been at the forefront of the global effort to eradicate the practice of child labour. Not only has the ILO forged international consensus through instruments such as the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, but it has been active, together with its partners, to ensure that such instruments have a meaningful impact on the lives of the world’s children,” Ramaphosa said.

“Child labour is an enemy of our children’s development and an enemy of progress. No civilization, no country and no economy can consider itself to be at the forefront of progress if its success and riches have been built on the backs of children,” Ramaphosa said.

The president said that the conference would look at why millions of children are victims of exploitative labour practices, why this persists in some countries but less in others, and what decisive interventions are needed to end these practices.

“The fragmentation of global supply chains, and how this has affected child labour in countries with extractives-based economies, is a matter that should be taken up by the ILO, business, labour, human rights activists and civil society,” Ramaphosa said, adding that child labour co-exists with migration flows and socio-economic instability in developing economies.

“In a climate where millions are prepared to brave the harshness of deserts and rough seas in search of a better life, the risk of children being exposed to exploitative labour practices is high.

“The reality is that our prospects for eliminating child labour and achieving decent work are limited unless we change the structure of the global economy and the institutions that support it.

“Among other things, this requires patterns of trade and investment that are more inclusive, creating opportunities for developing economies to become more integrated into global value chains.

"They need to have the resources and the opportunities to industrialise, to advance up the production value chain and to provide their people with better jobs,” Ramaphosa said as he called on all social partners to adopt a ‘Durban Call to Action’ that focuses on the practical steps needed to take to make a difference.

“Without a conscious effort to achieve social justice, we will struggle to eliminate child labour,” Ramaphosa concluded. PTI FH AMS AMS

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