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Child Labour: a challenge for international community

Millions of children worldwide are engaged in labour that is hindering their education, development and future livelihoods; many of them are involved in the worst forms of child labour that cause irreversible physical or psychological damage, or that even threaten their lives. This situation represents an intolerable violation of the rights of individual children, it perpetuates poverty and it compromises economic growth and equitable development. Today, we have a better grasp of the size and the shape of the problem: of the more than 250 million child labourers worldwide, some 180 million are now suspected to be toiling in the "worst forms" of child labour- those activities that the global community has unanimously agreed are inexcusable under any circumstances and must be eliminated without delay. The persistence on such a scale of this violation of children's basic human rights casts a shadow over us all. That is why the effective abolition of child labour is one of the most urgent challenges of our time and child labour remains to be a priority issue at the international level. The United Nations and a number of its specialized agencies have developed strategies to address the problem of child labour. Some of the programmes and policies developed through the UN system, particularly by the International Labour Organization.

The International Labour Organization has made child labour one of its central concerns. The ILO set this as a key goal in 1919, the year of its creation, through the adoption of the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 5), prohibiting work performed by children of less than 14 years of age in industrial enterprises. Over the years that followed, the concept of minimum age for entry into employment was extended to different economic sectors, culminating with the adoption of the comprehensive Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138). Convention No.138 stipulates that the minimum age for employment must not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, not less than 15 years. It should be noted that Convention No.138 applies to work done by children both for another person (wage employment) and on their own behalf (self-employment). Convention No.138 also sets a higher minimum age of 18 for hazardous work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons. The adoption of the Worst Forms Child Labour Convention No.182 attest to the strengthen of the political will among ILO member States to tackle, with employers' and workers' organizations and all partners in civil society, these most extreme forms of child labour as a matter of the greatest urgency. Convention No.182 stipulates that ratifying States are to apply the Convention to children under the age of 18, take immediate and effective measures to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour, establish monitoring mechanisms and ensure effective enforcement, including penal or other sanctions. They should also adopt programmes of action, take all necessary measures to prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour.

The employers' group is one partner in the ILO's tripartite structure, which also includes governments and workers. By gaining a more complete understanding of the existing international framework to advance the elimination of child labour, employers wishing to take a more active role in this area will be better prepared to readily identify available sources of technical support.

Child labour in Azerbaijan

The problem of child labour in Azerbaijan is one of the negative phenomena of transition to market economy. After restoration of state and economic independence at the end of XX century the main task of the Azerbaijan Republic was to ensure the economic and social development of the country which required the right political and economical policy. Ten years after gaining independence Azerbaijan has successfully achieved macroeconomic stability.

The country has been conducting reforms for economic and social development. The main direction of socio-economic policy of the country is realization of reforms in all fields of economy, forming a flexible management structure, creating environment for free competition and entrepreneurship. For the 10-years of independency the Republic of Azerbaijan made significant steps towards the integration to the World Economy System.

The main goal of the political, economic and legislative reforms is to establish a democratic, secular independent country with a strong economy. The measures in the field of economy are based on conditions of market economy and aimed at attraction of domestic and foreign capital, application of modern technologies and advanced management which lead to establishing of enterprises producing competitive goods, renewing of existing enterprises, creating of new jobs.

The reforms conducted in the country promoted development private sector which holds a leading position in the economy of Azerbaijan. The share of private sector in GDP has reached 73,0% compared with 43% in 1997. Progress in private sector development has had a positive influence on the private sector's share on overall employment. In 2002 private sector employment made up 72 percent of total employment.

The transition to new economic relations was accompanied by a number of political, social and economic restructuring and was deepened by the Armenian aggression. The occupation of 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan and location of refugees in the country created a social group of one million refugees and internally displaced persons. Thais kind of situation had a negative impact on the lives of children and increased the application of child labour.

Most of them had no parents' care and social protection and experienced indifference of the society. The factors contributing to child labour have been identified to be poverty particularly in the rural areas, unemployment, agrarian relations, number of children in the family and problems in provision of family needs; low level of education; existing intentions of getting profit due to child labour; insufficient social protection; indifference of society to a problem, family disharmony and diminishing family support; trafficking of children within the country and inadequate enforcement of labour and criminal laws. More essential factor stipulating use of child labour concerns gender issues, as in Azerbaijan women and men are confronted with the unequal opportunities for earning their life, but this inequality is not termed by legal environment. Economic decline happened in 1991-1995 mostly affected women rather than men. Registered unemployment rate is 1,33 % higher for women. According to statistics of January 1, 2003, the 54,7 % of officially registered unemployed population are women. The average monthly salary in works dominated by women is lower than of men that deprives children from being fully provided by the family.

Unfortunately, the systematic and complete investigations on child labour have not been carried out in Azerbaijan. Following the results of UNICEF investigations 13 % of employed children (of 5-14 years) was registered in Azerbaijan. Only 0,3 % of these children are paid for their work. However, investigations of UNICEF covered only limited number of regions of Azerbaijan and certain general aspects of child labour. These facts in spite of their importance don't give the complete idea of the nature and extend of child labour, labour conditions, the factors originating child labour and gender problem. Besides, there is no any relevant statistics on economic status of children and child labour in Azerbaijan.