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News Release
U.S. Department of Labor awards nearly $59 million
to eliminate exploitive child labor in 19 countries
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced nearly $59 million in grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor in fiscal year 2009 to combat exploitive child labor in 19 countries. The grants will help rescue more than 85,000 children from exploitive labor, and offer them hope for the future through education and training. The grants will also help improve collection and analysis of child labor data and support the development and implementation of national action plans to address the problem.
"Protecting children from exploitation and ensuring that their education and healthy development is not compromised is our moral duty," said Secretary of Labor, Hilda L.Solis. "With these new funds, we are furthering our commitment to working with the international community to find effective and lasting solutions to this global challenge."
In Africa, the department awarded $20.4 million in grants to combat exploitive child labor in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Zambia. Groups such as the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC), the International Rescue Committee, Winrock International and the Forum of African Women Educationalists will implement projects to address exploitive child labor in sectors such as cocoa, coffee, tea and sugar.
The department awarded $15.8 million for projects in Latin America. ILO-IPEC, Catholic Relief Services, Desarrollo y Autogestión and World Learning will implement projects in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Paraguay. A regional South America project will eliminate forced labor and child labor through improved labor inspections, education and sharing of best practices, including many developed in Brazil.
In Asia, $15.3 million was awarded for projects in India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines. Implementing organizations include ILO-IPEC, Save the Children, Terre Des Hommes, World Education and World Vision. These projects will combat child labor, including in the production of bricks and embroidered textiles, mining, domestic service, plantation agriculture, portering and commercial sexual exploitation.
A final $7.4 million in grants will support policy and research projects. In addition, the department awarded a $500,000 contract to the Center for Reflection, Education, and Action (CREA) to assist the department in identifying and disseminating best practices to eliminate child labor and forced labor in supply chains. CREA will work with a variety of stakeholders to develop a framework for evaluating business practices.
Since 1995, Congress has appropriated approximately $720 million to the Labor Department to support efforts to combat exploitive child labor internationally. As a result of that funding, the department has rescued approximately 1.3 million children from exploitive child labor. For more information, visit the department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs Web pages at http://www.dol.gov/ilab.
Editor's Note: A chart with information about the individual grants is below.
U.S. Department of Labor — Bureau of International Labor Affairs Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking FY 2009 Programming to Combat Exploitive Child Labor Internationally
COUNTRY | FUNDING LEVEL | PROJECT FOCUS | IMPLEMENTER |
AFRICA | |||
West Africa-ECOWAS (Direct Action in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana) | $7,950,000 | Towards Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (WFCL) in West Africa: Supporting and monitoring implementation of national action plans in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, the development of a national action plan in Nigeria, and strengthening sub-regional cooperation through ECOWAS | International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) |
Kenya | $4,600,000 | Support for the implementation of the Kenyan National Action Plan for the Elimination of the WFCL with special focus on agriculture and older children | ILO-IPEC |
Malawi | $2,757,621 | Project of Support to the National Action Plan to combat Child Labor in Malawi. | ILO-IPEC |
Rwanda | $4,499,988 | Combating the WFCL in agriculture | Winrock International in association with Forum of African Women Educationalists and SNV Netherlands Development Organization-Rwanda (SNV) |
Sierra Leone and Liberia | $300,000 | Cost increase of project to combat the WFCL | International Rescue Committee |
Zambia | $292,379 | Cost increase of project to combat the WFCL | ILO-IPEC |
| Subtotal AFRICA = $20,399,988 | |||
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN | |||
Mexico | $4,750,000 | "Stop Child Labor in Agriculture": Contribution to the prevention and elimination of child labor in Mexico, in particular the worst forms in the agricultural sector, with special focus on indigenous children and child labor as a result of internal migration | ILO-IPEC |
Regional South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay) | $6,750,000 | Combating the WFCL through horizontal cooperation in South America (Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador) | ILO-IPEC |
Guatemala | $4,199,601 | Combating the WFCL and creating child labor free zones | Catholic Relief Services |
Ecuador | $150,000 | Cost increase of project to combat the WFCL among indigenous children | World Learning in association with Desarrollo y Autogestión |
| Subtotal LAC = $15,849,601 | |||
ASIA, MIDDLE EAST, EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA (ASIA/MENA) | |||
Indonesia | $5,500,000 | Combating the WFCL through an area based approach | Save the Children Federation in association with World Education |
Nepal | $4,248,224 | Combating the WFCL, with a focus on Forced Child Labor and Trafficking of Children into Commercial Sexual Exploitation | World Education in association with Terres des Hommes Foundation |
Philippines | $4,750,000 | Towards a Child Labor-Free Philippines: Supporting the ‘Philippine Program Against Child Labor' in Building on Past Gains and Addressing Challenges | ILO-IPEC |
Indonesia | $200,000 | Cost increase of project to combat the WFCL | ILO-IPEC |
Pakistan | $50,000 | Cost increase of project to combat the WFCL | Save the Children-UK |
Philippines | $200,000 | Cost increase of project to combat the WFCL | World Vision |
South Asia Regional (India, Nepal, Pakistan) | $350,000 | Cost increase for South Asia Carpets Research | Macro International |
| Subtotal ASIA/MENA = $15,298,224 | |||
Global/Multi-Region | |||
Global | $3,000,000 | Follow-up to the resolution on child labor statistics adopted at the 18th ICLS through methodological development and expansion of child labor data collection | ILO-IPEC |
Global | $1,500,000 | Cooperation to Address the WFCL in Agriculture: Support to the International Agricultural Partnership | ILO-IPEC |
Global | $2,821,100 | Support to the Global Action Plan, baseline surveys, evaluations, and project design and development | ILO-IPEC |
Global | $125,000 | Cost increase for research on forced labor in select countries | Verité |
| Subtotal Global = $7,446,100 | |||
| GRAND TOTAL = $58,993,913 | |||