Minister of State Power announces €3 million to combat child and forced labour in the developing world

An Roinn Gnóthaí Eachtracha Preas Ráiteas

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The Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, T.D., today committed funding of €3 million to combat child labour, human trafficking and debt bondage in the developing world.

The funding, which will be channelled through the International Labour Organisation (ILO), will also be used to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Speaking at the ICTU Global Solidarity Summer School in Waterford today, Minister Power said:

"We know that more than 200 million children worldwide - some as young as five - are working. Almost half of these children are labouring in hazardous conditions. Not only does this rob them of their childhood, it has serious long-term implications for their education, health and prospects for a better future.

The highest proportion of child labourers is in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than one-in-four children are working. The Government, through Irish Aid, is committed to supporting the work of the International Labour Organisation to combat the poverty, deprivation and other factors which have made child labour a tragic reality for too many boys and girls," Minister Power said.

"This funding will also support initiatives to free some of the estimated 12 million people in the world who are victims of forced labour, including women and girls trafficked into prostitution and vulnerable migrants trapped in debt bondage and sweatshops.

I am also pleased that our funding will support the ILO’s programme to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the developing world. Some 80% of the world’s disabled people live in developing countries, many of whom subsist below the poverty line. According them the dignity of work and the opportunity to forge a path out of poverty reflects Ireland’s commitment to making a real and sustainable difference to the lives of our some of the world’s most vulnerable people," he said.

The €3 million announced today brings to more than €17 million the total provided by Irish Aid, the Government’s programme of overseas assistance, to the International Labour Organisation since 2001.

Note for the editor:

Irish Aid is the Government’s programme for overseas development. It is an integral part of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Irish Aid has had a partnership programme with the International Labour Organisation since 2001. The latest funding is part of a three-year programme which will run until July 2011. The priority areas are combating forced labour, eliminating child labour, promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities and creating more and better opportunities for women entrepreneurs in developing countries.

According to the ILO:

Some 218 million children, aged 5 to 17, are involved in child labour worldwide, of whom126 million work in hazardous conditions.

At least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these 9.8 million are exploited by private agents - including more than 2.4 million people who were trafficked – while another 2.5 million are forced to work by the State or by rebel military groups.

Approximately 80% of people with disabilities live in the developing world.

For further information, please contact Fionnuala Quinlan, Press Officer, Irish Aid: 01-4082653 or 087-9099975.

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Press Office

28 August 2009