§ Mr. BurdenTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures her Department is taking to help reduce the employment of child workers. [109333]
§ Clare ShortWe are strongly committed to the elimination of child labour. We have actively supported the development of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) new Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labour. We are providing core and project funding to ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).
Activities to end child labour need to address the main cause—poverty. Parents do not let their children work in dangerous and exhausting industries by choice. Any sustainable solution will have to include alternative income-earning opportunities for poor families. However, in many places finding alternative forms of income is difficult. The best outcome for many children may be to combine work with education. This may be the first step in breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty.
Much of our work is aimed at promoting economic growth, improving access to education and increasing job opportunities. We are also supporting a number of initiatives which focus specifically on child labourers and their families including significant programmes in both India and Pakistan and, through ILO, in Indonesia. We are developing a strategic approach to child labour in Asia which will look at key international, regional and national stakeholders with interests in or influence on child labour. These strategies are looking at not just child worker specific projects but also the need for special efforts in wider education, rural livelihoods and urban-based programmes, to include children who work. We hope through these projects to develop successful approaches 432W which can be replicated elsewhere. However, in the long term it is through a comprehensive process of sustainable development that change will come about.