HUMAN RIGHTS dren as required by Convention No. 182 (see above under ‘Worst forms of child labour’). Aim of the Convention • Prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour. Elements • Absolute ban on children being involved or engaged in these activities; • Immediate and effective action. Definition of a child • Everyone under the age of 18. Worst forms of child labour • All forms of slavery or similar practices such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom, forced or compulsory labour including recruitment of children in armed conflict; • Child prostitution and pornography; • Illicit activities, in particular drug trafficking; • Work which is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children (to be identified by national laws and regulations). Tools • Action programmes to remove children from these forms of labour; • Attention to children at special risk and girls; • Direct assistance for rehabilitation and social integration of removed children; • Educational programmes including access to free basic education and vocational training; • Monitoring mechanisms. Required action by governments • Designation of competent authority to implement the Convention; • Enforcement of penal sanctions; • List types of work which are to be banned (to be reviewed and revised as required). Convention No. 182 also has an accompanying recommendation – Recommendation No. 190. The Recommendation serves as a guide for national action on child labour, and on how to implement Convention No. 182 and is thus noteworthy. The main elements of Recommendation No. 190 are that governments should: • Consider the views, not just of employers’ and workers’ organizations, but also of other concerned groups, including children, young people and their families; • To identify specific examples of what is meant by work which harms the health, safety or morals of chil- Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, has summed up the issue as follows: ‘Child labour is not jobs for kids. It is neither valuable work experience nor apprenticeship combined with schooling that enhances a child’s present and future prospects. Child labour – in its worst forms – is abuse of power. It is adults exploiting the young, naïve, innocent, weak, vulnerable and insecure for personal profit; although so many valuable efforts are going on, we have not yet enough courage and imagination to really go beyond chipping at the margins and actually stop it … creating and ratifying this Convention is the easy part. The tougher part is finding ladders for [children] to climb out of the pits of violence and discrimination they live in.’ 25 For more information on child labour, please contact: International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) ILO CH 1211 Geneva 22 Switzerland tel: +41 22 799 8181 fax: +41 22 799 8771 e-mail: ipec@ilo.org You can also contact: Anti-Slavery International Thomas Clarkson House The Stableyard, Broomgrove Road London SW9 9TL UK tel: +44 207 501 8920 fax: +44 207 738 4110 e-mail: info@antislavery.org 6. Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) n 1998, the ILO adopted a Declaration to reaffirm the commitment of the ILO’s 175 member states to respect the ILO’s core principles, which are essential for the realization of the ILO’s goals and objectives. The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work calls on all member states, to promote and realize the universal application of the four funda- I THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION: A HANDBOOK FOR MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES 17