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World leaders call for ban on child labor
February 26, 1997
Web posted at: 3:40 p.m. EST (2040 GMT)AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (CNN) -- Representatives from 30 nations on Wednesday began a two-day conference designed to come up with an international treaty to end child labor.
About 250 million children aged 5 to 14 toil in jobs that leave many physically and emotionally scarred for life, the International Labor Office said.
The United Nations enacted a convention in 1973 calling on nations to set age 15 as the basic minimum for work, with 13 the minimum for light work and 18 the minimum for hazardous work. . Many countries have ratified at least some aspects of that agreement. But the reforms haven't taken hold in some developing nations, where low living standards force many children to help their families make ends meet.
The new child labor convention, to be enacted at the International Labor Conference in 1999 and ratified by individual nations beginning in 2000, would set strict penalties for those who employ the very young.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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