In May 2022, South Africa hostet the V. Global Conference for the Elimination of Child Labour – a first on the agenda: a forum dedicated to children’s participation on Thursday, May 19th. Five representatives of the Dialogue Works Global CAC were invited to be a part of this children’s forum and travelled to Durban on short notice to speak up for working children.

After exchanges with other delegates from South Africa and all over the world, one representative per region was elected to sit on the panel of the official children’s forum on Thursday afternoon. Both Kabwe and Ashley were elected as representatives and gave strong statements in the discussion with representatives from ILO, the South African government and the UN Child Rights Committee.

The entire session is accessible here.

We are extremely proud of the Dialogue Works delegates and very happy that they got the chance to integrate working children’s views into the discourse at the Global Conference. This children’s forum needs to be the first of many steps on the road to anchor working children’s participation sustainably within international policy processes.