§ 5. Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham)What assessment she has made of the contribution of the International Labour Organisation to eradicating poverty in developing countries. [143199]
§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)In the past, International Labour Organisation work focused on the needs of workers in formal employment and had little relevance to the needs of the poorest. More recently, the convention on eliminating the worst forms of child labour and the commitment more actively to promote core labour standards, including action against bonded labour, discrimination and promoting the right to organise, have increased the relevance of ILO work to the needs of the poorest, so my Department has increased its collaboration with the ILO and has provided £9 million in funding since 1997.
§ Mr. MacShaneI welcome that strong statement and congratulate my right hon. Friend on the encomium for the ILO on page 29 of her excellent White Paper. The ILO is an important institution, and we should play a full part in it.
I spent a part of my life before entering Parliament working in Asia, Latin America and Africa, supporting workers in developing countries. My conclusion is that the best way to let workers earn a decent living is to allow them to participate fully in the world economy. Therefore, will my right hon. Friend continue to make the case for free trade, for eliminating trade barriers and, above all, for defeating the isolationist and protectionist attitude of the Opposition?
§ Clare ShortI agree with my hon. Friend. In the words of the Director General of the International Labour Organisation, the poor of the world want the chance to have decent work, to earn a living, to bring up their children and send them to school, to get health care, to improve their lives and to be self-reliant. For that they 1068 need strong economies, the right of workers to organise, for their children not to be in labour and therefore not in school, and not to have bonded labour that is not properly paid. We are working with the ILO on all that. Indeed, we are negotiating a partnership agreement between my Department and the ILO to work on improving the livelihoods of the poorest. That means free trade and the poorest countries having the opportunity to export and to grow their economies.
§ Mr. Dafydd Wigley (Caernarfon)Does the right hon. Lady agree that the elimination of child labour is an essential part of the Programme of developing educational opportunities for children in developing countries? Is she satisfied that enough progress is being made to reach the targets that have been set with regard to primary education?
§ Clare ShortI shall not be satisfied until every child in the world is in primary education. The research evidence is clear that the single most powerful intervention that any country can make in its development is to educate a generation of children, including the girls. Those children grow up and transform their country. They have fewer children later, so their children are much more likely to survive to go to school, to get health care and to improve family incomes. Although children have a right to education, it is also profoundly developmental to get them into school. Children who are labouring and are not in school lose out on their childhood, but damage is also being caused to the next generation. We have expanded our work in this area massively, but none of us should be content until every child in the world is getting a basic education.