§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what initiatives her Department is taking to alleviate problems arising from child labour. [32539]
§ Clare ShortI am supporting initiatives to raise awareness of the evils of exploitative child labour. One of these is the Global March Against Child Labour which will take place in many of the countries where child labour is common. Representatives of the march will arrive in Geneva as the Member states of the International Labour Office (ILO) begin work on a new international convention on child labour. My Department has provided assistance to the organisers of the March in developing countries and to the UK organising committee. The March will come to this country during the first two weeks in May. I hope to take part in the ILO Conference in Geneva in June when the new convention is discussed. We are592W already working with ILO's International Programme for the Eradication of Child Labour and I plan to increase our support this year.
I have also provided a grant to the Ethical Trading Initiative which brings together private sector companies, unions and NGOs to develop best practice in monitoring and implementing codes of practice for suppliers. Through this we are promoting a positive engagement between importers and their suppliers so that where child labour is found they will work together to find solutions. These must address the welfare of the children. In Pakistan we have financed a pilot project to provide social protection for children leaving the football stitching industry. This project, which was developed by Save the Children UK and the Pentland Group of companies, is an example of positive engagement. More initiatives are in preparation.