COMMITTEE: Human Rights Council 2
QUESTION OF: Combatting the use of Child Labor in Southern and Western Asia
MAIN SUBMITTTED BY: Cuba
CO-MAIN SUBMITTED BY: United States of America
CO-SUBMITTED BY: United Kingdom, Namibia, Vietnam
THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL,
Bearing in mind, that in South Asia alone, there are approximately 21.6 million illegal child laborers working domestically and in the industry,
Deeply concerned that even after member states have ratified almost or all five International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions the issue still prevails,
Seeking strengthened education systems and government’s further involvement in education systems, specifically for orphans within respective member states,
Regarding hazardous child labour, under the definitions mentioned under the Human Rights Watch and the International Labour Organization, as labour by minors either under the age of 18 by United Nations Charter, or respective member nation’s laws, or labour which violates fundamental human rights,
Commends resolutions such as A/51/615, “The Rights of a Child” and NGOs such as The Child Labor Coalition and the International Labor Organization in efforts to combat this issue,
Fully aware of individual regulations and laws set forth by member states that combat the use of child labor,
Further recalling UN General Assembly Resolution 61/146 of 23 January 2007 that emphasized that the Convention on the Rights of the Child must constitute the standard in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child,
Emphasizes the fact that the definition of child labor is work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially, or morally dangerous and harmful to them,
Noting with deep concern that the brutalities of child labor may inflict irreparable physical or psychological harm upon a child, and that lack of proper education may prevent proper work, and in turn, adequate income,
- Urges all member nations that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, and regulate existing treaties relevant to the issue of combating child labor in order to achieve universal recognition of child labor as a method of exploitation and to fully protect the rights of the child such as but not limited to:
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child
- ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
- Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)
- ILO Resolution of 05 December 2008
- Resolution A/51/492;
2. Encourages the expansion of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund’s (UNICEF) child labour department through collaboration with partners such as pertinent Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governmental organizations (GOs), international banks, and member states, coming together to combat specifically in Southern and Western Asia, in ways such as but not limited to:
- conducting bi-annual meetings amongst members involved in order to request for funding from non-governmental organizations, UN based organizations, and member states
- urge member states that have the highest rates of child labour to share ways they are combatting the issue to other member states
- ask pre-existent organizations such as End Child Labour or National Child Labour Committee to present ways they are spending their funds and working to improve working conditions in Southern and Western Asia;
3. Recommends all member states, in collaboration with the United Nations Security Council with regard to Article 40 of the United Nations, UNICEF, member states, to facilitate communication between existing parties involved in the efforts to combat child labor and existing solution research centers by:
a. creating a private communication network through available means, wherein all parties or states executing measures to combat child labor can observe each other’s progress and seek advice or input from other parties involved, so as to:
i. promote cooperation between states involved
ii. respect the sovereignty of states involved
iii. maintain cooperation between nations involved;
b. acting as a mediator in active negotiation or conversation between parties or states involved, to serve purposes such as but not limited to:
i. providing a structural basis to eradicate the insufficient distribution of work amongst parties or states involved
ii. providing interpreters and translators to aid in communication with
countrieswho do not share a similar language;
4. Emphasizes the need to combat illiteracy and strengthen education systems in Southern and Western Asia in order to break vicious cycle and reduce the number of children becoming domestic or hazardous laborers in ways such as but not limited to:
- establishing more schools funded by UNESCO or world banks, and finding already constructed infrastructure for primary and secondary schools if not done already distributed both in rural and urban areas such that they proportional to the population of minors in the area while still making them accessible to the total children in the area
- receiving funding from worldwide banks and related member states, and organizations in order to hire United Nations volunteer teachers from organizations such as Teachers Without Borders to teach at the schools
- offering food, funded through banks, as an incentive for the children to attend the schools,
- recommending countries to create laws or formally consent to ratified laws and resolutions in which children above the restricted age limit, who are allowed to work in factories or be domestic laborers must be literate and have completed primary education
- creating school systems within orphanages, by providing mobile teachers, who are UN Volunteers from organizations such as Teachers Without Borders, not permanently situated in one region, as well as the same incentives such as meals and necessities within the orphanage schools
- creating programs for former child laborers in which older students mentor young students in order to alleviate the psychological effects from child labour as well as create a smoother transition from the workforce to school;
5. Further requests the creation of information centers, funded by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in which United Nations volunteers, mobile teachers, and representatives of NGOs inform local citizens about opportunities for education, as well as information regarding single mothers, in ways such as but not limited to:
- educating local citizens about the education factories which are explicitly created for children living in poverty
- educating civilians on the restrictions for child labour in terms of age, by region, and the punishments that will follow when the law is broken
- help prevent teen pregnancies by providing contraception and raising awareness of safe sexual practices;
6. Calls upon member states to cooperate with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to help identify potential or suspected businesses utilizing the use of child labor and to receive guidance, if needed, for creating measures to combat child labor such as but not limited to:
- urging countries to create, enforce, and maintain a minimum age restriction of 18 years of age for hard labor jobs and a minimum age restriction of 14 years of age for working to produce income
- requests all member nations to establish an internal governmental program in which civilians can receive monetary rewards provided by UNICEF related NGOS, GOs, and world banks in exchange for information regarding the whereabouts of workplaces employing illegal child laborers
- requiring businesses, under the suspicion of child labor use, to provide information regarding their workforce and suppliers, and if needed, to prosecute and imprison any persons who withholds or forges information regarding the location, living conditions, or age of suspected child labor workers;
- Establishing an annual report for registered businesses, under suspicion, to provide information regarding the legality of their business practices:
- creating documentation for candidate workers under the age of 21 regarding their nationality and age, which must be verified and processed by their government of residence in order for them to be granted a job
- interviewing multiple employees privately to determine whether their employment certification is legitimate,
- determine the state of their well being, living conditions, and age;
- recommending the implementation of proper mechanisms within the nation’s justice system to properly bring to justice all involved with child trafficking through means such as:
- ensuring that multiple witnesses are called to testify in court
- ensuring that a maximum prison sentence of at least 10 years will be given if the defendant is found guilty;
- Further proclaims the need for a branch from UNICEF which specifically works to gather and document data on child laborers by country in Southern and Western Asia in ways such as but not limited to:
- locating factories where child labor is found or orphanages where children most often leave to become laborers and urge countries to create laws in order to:
- creating a document that must be confirmed and processed for a child to leave an orphanage and become a child laborer
- holding inspections within factories to make sure all laborers are verified
- categorizing the number of laborers through the type of labour available such as:
- domestic child laborers
- hazardous child laborers
- laborers supplied via child trafficking
- bonded laborers;
- Further recommends educating civilians in More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs) to raise awareness on Child Labour through ways such as but not limited to:
- working alongside the extension to UNICEF to recruit public figures in order to raise awareness through videos and posts on platforms such as:
- YouTube
- Facebook;
- raising awareness for organizations which work with the public in hopes of raising funds for education, such as Supporting Children's Rights through Education the Arts and the Media (SCREAM), or Stop Child Labour, by urging public figures to advertise, engaging the public in the act to stop Child Labor through the donating of funds,
- urging the public figures to stress the importance of the public checking where goods are manufactured, and protesting goods that are notorious for being made through child labour in major industries within Southern and Western Asia,
- requesting the figures to endorse ethical fashion and industrial brands,
- hosting and supporting campaigns such as the Global March Against Child Labor.