United States Provides over $110 Million in Grants to Fight
Exploitive Child Labor Around the World

WASHINGTON—To emphasize the United States commitment to eliminating the worst forms of child labor, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao noted today that in FY 2004 the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provided over $110 million in grants to remove young workers from abusive work situations and improve access to quality basic education in areas with a high incidence of exploitive child labor.

The United States is the world leader in funding programs to eliminate abusive child labor, said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. This Administration is committed to working with our partners around the world to rescue child soldiers and other children who have been trafficked. We cannot give them back their childhoods, but we can help them get an education and build better futures for themselves.

The Labor Department awarded $67.5 million in grants under its Child Labor Education Initiative, most through a competitive bidding process. In addition, the Labor Department contributed approximately $42.7 million to the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) for programs to address child labor in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East. The department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) contributed to the design of these projects and is responsible for monitoring the progress of all DOL-funded international child labor projects.

DOL funds five types of projects, including:

• Targeted programs that address exploitive child labor in a specific industry in a country or region;
• Education programs that focus on child laborers or children at risk;
• Research and statistical programs to collect data necessary to define the extent of exploitive child labor in a country or region and to measure progress made toward the goal of eliminating child labor;
• Projects to support a country's active participation in IPEC; and
• Comprehensive national programs to achieve dramatic reductions in exploitive child labor within a fixed time period.

The United States remains committed to the global campaign to eliminate the worst forms of exploitive labor that place children in harm's way while depriving them of the opportunity to prepare for a better future by attending school, said Deputy Under Secretary for International Labor Affairs Arnold Levine.

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.