"We are not giving up on our ideal world where adults will have a decent job and children can study."
-Agustin Munoz, ILO Latin American Director
"Today, the time has come to build on the growing world consensus to ban the most abusive forms of child labor-to join together and to say there are some things we cannot and will not tolerate.
We will not tolerate children being used in pornography and prostitution. We will not tolerate children in slavery or bondage. We will not tolerate children being forcibly recruited to serve in armed conflicts. We will not tolerate young children risking their health and breaking their bodies in hazardous and dangerous working conditions for hours unconscionably long-regardless of country, regardless of circumstance. These are not some archaic practices out of a Charles Dickens novel. These are things that happen in too many places today."
-Bill Clinton, former President of the United States
"Passing this Convention (Convention 182) alone, however, will not solve the problem. We must also work aggressively to enforce it. And we must address root causes, the tangled pathology of poverty and hopelessness that leads to abusive child labor. Where that still exists it is simply not enough to close the factories where the worst labor practices occur. We must also ensure that children then have access to schools and their parents have jobs. Otherwise, we may find children in even more abusive circumstances."
-Bill Clinton, former President of the United States
"We are treated the same as the adults in what is demanded of us and we are treated worse in what we receive."
-Tomas, child worker
"Unemployment destroys societies, but child labour shames all society"
- Cardinal of Sao Paulo, Brazil
"The income generated by working children in Guatemala is more than the total budget of the Ministry of Education"
- Guillermo Monroy, Guatemalan Archbishop's Office on Human Rights
"In a world where it is difficult to come up with a cause that can unite hearts and minds, let's make the eradication of the worst forms of child labor a cause we all share."
-Juan Somavia
I want to...
I want to cry out to the world the rage of chained children.
I want to cry out to the world the pain of abused girls.
I want to cry out to the world the unutterable sadness of abandoned babies.
I want to cry out to the world the fear of maltreated kids.
I want to cry out all this to the world.
But who will cry out with me?
-Written by Michele Bedulli for the "Children's Solidarity Concert"
