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distinguishing child labour that needs abolition, on the one hand, and acceptable work done by
children, including such activities that allow indigenous children to acquire livelihood skills,
identity and culture, on the other. Child labour is work that deprives children of their childhood,
their potential and dignity and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.31
70. Provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child refer to the use of children in illicit
production and trafficking of drugs (art. 33), sexual exploitation (art. 34), trafficking in children
(art. 35), children in armed conflicts (art. 38). These provisions are closely related to the
definition of the worst forms of child labour under ILO Convention No. 182. The Committee
notes with grave concern that indigenous children are disproportionately affected by poverty and
at particular risk of being used in child labour, especially its worst forms, such as slavery,
bonded labour, child trafficking, including for domestic work, use in armed conflict, prostitution
and hazardous work.
71. The prevention of exploitative child labour among indigenous children (as in the case of all
other children) requires a rights-based approach to child labour and is closely linked to the
promotion of education. For the effective elimination of exploitative child labour among
indigenous communities, States parties must identify the existing barriers to education and the
specific rights and needs of indigenous children with respect to school education and vocational
training. This requires that special efforts be taken to maintain a dialogue with indigenous
communities and parents regarding the importance and benefits of education. Measures to
combat exploitative child labour furthermore require analysis of the structural root causes of
child exploitation, data collection and the design and implementation of prevention programmes,
with adequate allocation of financial and human resources by the State party, to be carried out in
consultation with indigenous communities and children.
Sexual exploitation and trafficking
72. Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention with consideration to the provisions of article 20, call
on States to ensure that children are protected against sexual exploitation and abuse as well as
the abduction, sale or traffic of children for any purposes. The Committee is concerned that
indigenous children whose communities are affected by poverty and urban migration are at a
high risk of becoming victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Young girls, particularly
those not registered at birth, are especially vulnerable. In order to improve the protection of all
children, including indigenous, States parties are encouraged to ratify and implement the
Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
73. States should, in consultation with indigenous communities, including children, design
preventive measures and allocate targeted financial and human resources for their
implementation. States should base preventive measures on studies which include documentation
of the patterns of violations and analysis of root causes.
31
ILO, Handbook on Combating Child Labour among Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 2006,
p. 9.