This public statement comes from working children’s representatives, including 5 movements of working children, 18 NGOs and 10 researchers dedicated to support working children. It addresses the organisers of the upcoming VI Global Conference on Child Labour, particularly the Government of Morocco and the ILO.

According to Art. 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have a right to be heard in all matters affecting their lives. In 2009, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted nine Basic Requirements for effective, ethical and meaningful participation of children in “all processes in which a child or children are heard and participate” (CRC/C/GC/12 ). These processes need to be (1) transparent and informative, (2) voluntary, (3) respectful, (4) relevant, (5) child-friendly, (6) inclusive, (7) supported by training (for adults), (8) safe and sensitive to risk and (9) accountable. 

While we acknowledge that consultations have taken place prior to the conference, involving civil society organisations, governmental stakeholders and, in some regions, working children, and that efforts have been made to involve children in connection with the conference, this is not sufficient to fully realise children’s rights to be heard under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. To meet this right, particularly organized working children and their movements must be meaningfully and safely involved in ways that are integrated into the core spaces and decision-making processes of the conference. 

It is therefore with great disappointment that we note the limited realisation of such meaningful participation of children in the upcoming global event. In contrast to the conference in South Africa (2022), where a Children`s Forum was jointly realized by conference organisers and NGOs, it seems that children involved in work and labour will not be heard or meaningfully involved in line with the nine basic requirements in Morocco. This is not only a violation of working children`s rights but also a missed chance to learn from children who experience child work and labour from day to day.

As a consequence, we jointly decided not to register for this event. 

We jointly encourage the conference organisers to ensure safe and meaningful children`s participation prior to as well as during all future events to realise the right to be heard as enshrined in Art. 12 UN CRC. From our point of view, it is particularly important to ensure:

– Equal representation of children from different workplaces (formal/ informal, paid/ unpaid, self-employed/ contract-based, rural/urban, organised/ non-organised etc.),

– Equal involvement of the most vulnerable groups, including: stateless, refugee, migrant and displaced children, children in street situations, children with disabilities and children from indigenous communities,

– Equitable representation of the world regions (with opportunities for more representatives from regions where there are higher numbers of working children and social movements of working children).

We recognise that this demands a lot of resources and time investment. This is why we continuously offered our support in the past and also for the conference in Morocco to ensure ethical and meaningful participation of children. We continue to offer this for all future events to realise working children’s right to be heard in the future World Conferences on Child Labour. 

This joint statement has been signed by:

Movements of working children:

– Movimiento Latinoamericano y del Caribe  de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes Trabajadores – Molacnnats

– Mouvement Africain des Enfants et jeunes Travailleurs/African Movement of Working Children and Youth (MAEJT/AMWCY)

– Unión de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes Trabajadores de Bolivia (UNATSBO)

– Movimiento Nacional de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes Trabajadores Organizados del Perú (MNNATSOP)

– Coordinación Regional de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes Trabajadores Venezuela (CORENATS)

NGOs:

– Terre des Hommes Germany

– Welfare of Children and Youth Kenya

– Children’s Voice Today (CVT), Rwanda  

– Children Women in Social Service and Human Rights (CWISH), Nepal

– DKA Austria

– Facilitator for Change (FC), Ethiopia

– Centre for Services and Information on Disability (CSID), Bangladesh 

– Proteknon, Global

– Action for Children in Conflict (AfCiC), Kenya

– Christian Advocates for Justice and Development in Negros, Inc. (CAJDEN), Philippines 

– ProNATs – Für die Rechte arbeitender Kinder, Germany

– The Concerned for Working Children, India 

– Enda Jeunesse Action International (EJAI), Senegal

– Center for Child Study and Protection/Pusat Kajian dan Perlindungan Anak (PKPA) Indonesia

– Vigyan Foundation, India

– Pastoral Social Caritas Potosí (PASOCAP), Bolivia

– National Institute of Women Child & Youth Development, Bachpan, India

– Kindernothilfe, Germany

Researchers:

– Dr. Neil Howard, University of Bath, UK

– Dr. Edward van Daalen, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Canada

– Deborah Levison, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, USA

– Kristen Cheney, PhD, Independent Scholar and Consultant

– Dr. Mélanie Jacquemin, Research Institute for Development (IRD), France

– Prof. Dr. Manfred Liebel, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany

– Prof. Dr. Nina Schneider, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU), Director of the Centre for Latin American Studies (ZILAS), Germany

– Prof. Dr. Rebecca Raby, Department of Child and Youth Studies Brock University, Canada

– Dr. Antje Ruhmann, Researcher and Policy Adviser, Children & Work Network, Germany

– Dr. Alejandro Cissiánovich, Ifejant, Perú