Child Labour News Service Release - 1 Nov 2001

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

[Caution to readers: Obviously, this issue is tainted by the India -
Pakistan conflict and takes rather opportunistic advantage of the
current US Government Crusade and its effect on gullible US citizens.
The newsletter comes from India. Most of their work is very good, and
child labor is a big problem in Pakistan as elsewhere. However, let's
all remember that India has plenty of its own problems with racism,
caste-ism, and of course abuse of children and women. --NY Transfer]


source - "Child Labour News Service" <yatra@del2.vsnl.net.in>

 CHILD LABOUR NEWS SERVICE
 1 November 2001
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 * AFGHANI CHILDREN WORKING IN RUG FACTORIES IN PAKISTAN
 * 32 COUNTRIES RISK FAILING EDUCATION PLEDGE
 * TOBACCO INDUSTRY BANS USE OF CHILD LABOUR
 * NIKE ADMITS TO MISTAKES OVER CHILD LABOUR
 * NEWS-IN-BRIEF 


AFGHANI CHILDREN WORKING IN RUG FACTORIES IN PAKISTAN

Peshawar, Pakistan -- Behind the high walls and padlocked iron gates
of the AsiaTic carpet-weaving factory live 800 Afghan children whose
miserable existence as bonded labourers is a piece of Afghanistan's
present plight.

Inside the compound skinny, round-eyed boys tie carpet knots from
morning to night. Some of them are only 5 or 6 years old.

Alone at night some sob and call out for their parents. Many will
contract respiratory ailments from close exposure to wool fibers.
Others will go blind from contact with harsh dyes.

These little labourers live behind gates guarded around the clock to
stop them from running away. Many were handed over in the last three
weeks to groups that organize local child labour by Afghan parents
convinced their sons will be safer in Pakistan away from U.S. air
raids and better fed than in famine-stricken Afghanistan.

But, because of the social upheaval in Pakistan caused by the war and
a sharp decline in orders for carpets from clients in the United
States and Europe, many of these children are being laid off and left
to their own devices.

The export of Afghan children to Pakistan's carpet sweatshops is
hardly a new phenomenon. Desperate Afghan parents without a
livelihood at home have been sending their children to Pakistan as
bonded labour for years, a practice that went virtually unnoticed
until the United States began military attacks on Afghanistan.

The boys work as carpet weavers while girls knead mud bricks in
quarries and kilns. They are paid just $1.60 for each 1,000 bricks
they make.

At one pit a grizzled patriarch named Bashir Takij said he came from
Afghanistan with his family 20 years ago to escape the war against
the invading Soviet army. His granddaughter Seema, 7, now works with
him. Her little sister Aziza, 3, is learning.

In 1995 the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, a non-governmental
organisation, rescued Iqbal Masih from a carpet-weaving factory and
made him a symbol in the global battle against child labour.

A year later, the 11-year-old boy was killed in Lahore, Pakistan.

His death was seen by many as an apparent warning not to tamper with
an industry that exports products that are big moneymakers for
Pakistan.

The demand for boy workers in Peshawar, home to some 300
carpet-weaving factories, has always been high. There is constant
demand for the nimble, tiny fingers of little boys able to pluck and
knot the thin wool threads with speed and accuracy. # # # (Chicago
Tribune)


32 COUNTRIES RISK FAILING EDUCATION PLEDGE

Paris -- Thirty-two countries are at grave risk of failing to enrol
all children in primary schools by 2015. In 15 of these countries,
less than half of children are attending school.

This warning is contained in a monitoring report released last week
on Education For All (EFA), a global compact that commits countries
to achieve universal primary school enrolment, establish full gender
equality in primary and secondary enrolment, and cut adult illiteracy
levels in half, all by 2015.

This report - prepared by UNESCO with inputs from partner
- organizations has been released to coincide with the first annual
- High-level
Meeting on Education for All, October 29-30, at UNESCO Headquarters,
part of the follow-up to the World Education Forum held in Dakar,
Senegal, in April 2000.

One out of every five school-age child in developing countries does
not attend school. In sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and the Arab
States, nearly 100 million children, more than 60% of them girls, are
not in school. All told, the world will need to make room for
additional 156 million school-age children by 2015 over the number
enrolled in schools in 1997. Of that total, more than half - 88
million children - will be from sub-Saharan Africa, while South Asian
and Arab States will need to find school places for 40 million and 23
million more children, respectively.

A massive effort is required in sub-Saharan Africa, which will have
to increase its 1990s pace of enrolment by between 2 and 3 times in
order to achieve universal primary education by 2015.

Countries at grave risk like Angola, the Central African Republic,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Liberia, Niger and
Somalia will need to accelerate ten-fold their 1990s pace of
increased enrolment.

African countries like Malawi, Mauritania and Uganda have doubled
enrolment to reach nearly 100% gross primary enrolment during this
decade. Zambia has reported a rise in its national literacy rate from
55% in 1990 to nearly 70% in 1996. The report warns, however, that
many countries are increasing enrolments at the expense of the
quality of education.

Sustained donor and national support for EFA over the coming decade
is needed, with estimates ranging from $8 to $15 billion additional
funding per year over the coming 15 years in order to achieve
universal primary education alone. The highest estimate ($15 billion)
represents only 0.06% of the GNP of donor countries, or 0.3% of the
GNP of developing countries, the report points out.

The 32 countries at risk of failing to reach the EFA goals by 2015
unless "serious action is taken" are Afghanistan, Angola, Bhutan,
Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad,
Congo, Ctte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti,
Lesotho, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome
and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania,
Yemen. # # # (United Nations)


TOBACCO INDUSTRY BANS USE OF CHILD LABOUR

An international outcry over the use of child labour in Malawi has
prompted the local tobacco industry into action after threats of
trade sanctions promised to cripple commercial agriculture in the
country.

The Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) have spearheaded the
creation of the Elimination of Child Labour Association following
threats by international tobacco buyers to lobby for a blanket ban
unless authorities took steps.

The association task force comprises government labour officials,
employers and the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU).

TAMA vice-president, Amid Mponda-Lunga informed that the new
association confirmed Malawi's commitment to ending child labour
practices.

"We have looked at different perspectives of child labour in Malawi
and are going to pull every resource to damn this evil,"

said Mponda-Lunga.

Under Malawi's new Employment Act of 2000 the minimum age of
employment is set at 14 years, said labour commissioner, Zebron
Kambuto.

But Malawi has also ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO)
conventions that seek to raise the minimum age of employment in
commercial agriculture to 18, he added.

"It is criminal to employ a minor in any economic activity which
harms a child's physical and normal development," Kambuto said.

The offence is punishable by a R3 500 fine or five years in jail but
there are no official statistics on the number of children under 14
employed in Malawi.

The tobacco sector in Malawi was the first to acknowledge the
existence of child labour in its sector, but other sectors, like tea,
refuted claims. # # # (African Eye News Service)


NIKE ADMITS TO MISTAKES OVER CHILD LABOUR

The Multibillion-Dollar sportswear company Nike has admitted that it
"blew it" by employing children in Third World countries but added
that ending the practice might be difficult.

Nike attempted to present itself to its shareholders in its first
"corporate responsibility report" as a touchy-feely entity
established by "skinny runners" and employing young executives who
worried about the environment and the level of wages it paid.

The mere fact that Nike has produced such a report was welcomed in
some quarters, but its main detractors, including labour groups such
as Oxfam's Nike Watch and the Clean Clothes Campaign, said they were
not convinced.

Philip Knight, the company chairman, clearly stung by reports of
children as young as 10 making shoes, clothing and footballs in
Pakistan and Cambodia, attempted to convince Nike's critics that it
had only ever employed children accidentally. "Of all the issues
facing Nike in workplace standards, child labour is the most vexing,"
he said in the report. "Our age standards are the highest in the
world: 18 for footwear manufacturing, 16 for apparel and equipment,
or local standards whenever they are higher.

But in some countries (Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example) those
standards are next to impossible to verify, when records of birth do
not exist or can be easily forged.

"Even when records keeping is more advanced, and hiring is carefully
done, one mistake can brand a company like Nike as a purveyor of
child labour."

The report said Nike imposed strict conditions on the age of
employees taken on by contract factories abroad, but admitted there
had been instances when those conditions were ignored or bypassed.

"By far our worst experience and biggest mistake was in Pakistan,
where we blew it," the report said. In 1995 Nike said it thought it
had tied up with responsible factories in Sialkot, in Pakistan, that
would manufacture well-made footballs and provide good conditions for
workers. Instead, the work was sub-contracted round local villages,
and children were drawn into the production process.

Now, it insisted, any factory found to be employing a child must take
that worker out of the factory, pay him or her a wage, provide
education and re-hire them only when they were old enough.

Mistakes, however, continue to happen. In recent years, Nike has been
criticised for its employment of child labour in Cambodia, but the
company defended itself by saying fake evidence of age could be
bought in Cambodia for as little as $5.

"If Nike wants to be taken seriously as a company interested in
corporate responsibility then it needs to engage honestly with its
critics in the human rights community. Unfortunately the company's
new corporate responsibility report fails to do this." # # # (The
Independent -- London)


NEWS-IN-BRIEF

 - UPCOMING ENTRY INTO FORCE OF TREATY ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS HAILED
With the submission of Romania's tenth ratification on 18 October,
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
will become a legally binding instrument on 18 January 2002.
Welcoming the upcoming entry into force of a treaty on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, the UNICEF
announced the event would be a major step forward in the protection
of children from exploitation, trafficking and sexual abuse. The
agency estimates that one million children, mainly girls, are forced
into the multi-billion dollar commercial sex trade every year. The
first 10 countries ratifying the treaty are Andorra, Bangladesh,
Cuba, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Panama, Sierra Leone, Norway, Morocco and
Romania.

 - INTERNATIONAL BODY TO MONITOR CHILD LABOUR IN SIALKOT SOON An
international monitoring body to supervise and monitor the
elimination of child labour in soccer ball industry of Sialkot and
any other industry or business involved in manufacturing of sports
goods and other areas will be established shortly.

In furtherance of Atlanta Agreement, the ILO-IPEC had established a
system with the co-operation of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (SCCI) for achieving the ultimate goal to eliminate child
labour from soccer ball industry. ILO-IPEC and its partners (SCCI,
UNICEF, SCF, FIFA, SICA and WFSGI) would be transferring the existing
monitoring system to an independent locally-managed institution with
a management and governing board registered under the Company's Law
of Pakistan.  A Board of Governors would be constituted to supervise
and oversee the performance of independent national monitoring body
to ensure transparency.  The ILO will continue to provide technical
assistance to this monitoring body.

(Business Recorder)

 - GOVERNMENT TEAM TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING The Indonesian
government has decided to establish an interdepartmental team to
launch various campaigns aimed at curbing rampant human trafficking,
Co-ordinating Minister for Peoples' Welfare Jusuf Kalla announced.
The decision was made in response to the United Nations' evaluation,
which categorised Indonesia in the third grade -- the worst countries
in handling human trafficking. This team would be assigned to lower
the evaluation to the second grade within three years. "We will
tighten surveillance and security, especially along borders, and
launch campaigns to address the causes for human trafficking, which
frequently ends with women and children forced to become sex workers
or illegal workers overseas," Kalla remarked. (The Jakarta Post)

 - NIGERIA PRESIDENT SETS UP BODY TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING Nigerian
President Olusegun Obasanjo has set up a committee on human
trafficking tasked with repatriating Nigerian victims of the illegal
business. The six-man committee, headed by deputy justice minister
Musa Elayo Abdulahi, will also ensure the prosecution of all
suspected and arrested human traffickers. The body will also
rehabilitate and reintegrate the victims into the society, informed
Mike Mku, president's special aide on human trafficking and child
labour. The human trafficking situation in Nigeria "has assumed a
serious and embarrassing dimension," Mku said.

(Agence France Presse)

 - NIGERIA AMONG TOP 20 COUNTRIES IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

The Nigerian government admitted that Nigeria is one of the top 20
countries in human trafficking worldwide. Submitting a memorandum on
human trafficking and child labour to a public hearing organised by
the Senate committee on women, the government pointed out that human
trafficking is ranked third in organised crime after drug trafficking
and gun running. The recent aggressive fight against drugs and gun
running has gradually made human trafficking and child labour the
safest transborder crime. The traffickers, most of whom are citizens
of Nigeria, use Benin, Guinea, Mali, Libya and Morocco as transit
countries, he said, adding that there are thousands of Nigerians
stranded in those countries.

 - CHILD LABOUR CRISIS IN NIGER Niger is facing a critical problem of
child labour, with some girls working for 17 hours a day as maids and
in other jobs.

A 1998 survey by the International programme for the eradication of
child labour on a sample of 600 working children, showed that 31% of
these children were aged between 10 and 12, and that only one-quarter
were sent to school. The study focused on the informal sector where
most of the children are involved in cattle-breeding, mining
extraction, manufacturing and maintenance activities.

Another survey in 1995 put at 247,293, the number of children between
four and 20 years, employed in Niger's the informal sector.

Niger has since adopted a National Plan of Action for the eradication
of child labour, but experts say this has had little effect.

(PANA)

 - KAZAKASTAN - ANTI TRAFFICKING CAMPAIGN Don't Agree with Slavery!
With this slogan, the IOM anti trafficking campaign, targeting girls
and women between the ages of 15 and 30, got under way last week.
Prior to the official launch, IOM held a workshop with 40
participants from all over Kazakhstan who will act as regional focal
points for the campaign. IOM will set up hotlines in all the regional
capitals which will give objective information to callers who have
received offers for work abroad. According to statistics compiled by
a regional NGOs last year, some 50 women were trafficked from a city
with a population of 150,000.  Using this figure to arrive at an
average for the entire country, taking into account a total
population of approximately 15 million persons, some 5,000 women
could be trafficked from Kazakhstan each year. IOM is carrying out
the information campaign with grants from the USAID and the SIDA
totalling USD200,000.

 - PHILIPPINES - COMBATING CHILD TRAFFICKING To combat child
trafficking in the country, domestic shipping company William,
Gothong and Aboitiz has agreed to set up a monitoring scheme for
passengers of its popular Super Ferry vessels. The safety net will be
put in place initially at the Manila North Harbour and will intercept
potential victims of child trafficking - estimated at around 2.5
million every year - upon their arrival at the waiting area. The
program will be implemented in co-ordination with the Visayan Forum
Foundation (VFF), a non-governmental organisation promoting the
welfare of migrant working children from Visayas and Mindanao.
Similar arrangements have been made with other shipping firms such as
Sulpicio Lines and Negros Navigation.

The monitoring program will be expanded next year to include other
major ports. A monitoring system will also be put up in the ports of
origin to prevent child trafficking before transit.

(Business World)

 - JAMAICA - GOVERNMENT TACKLES CHILD LABOUR Government is pumping
some $23 million into an assault on the practice of child labour in
Jamaica through a programme set to begin this month. Developed in
co-operation with the ILO, the programme will channel funds into
initiatives to stamp out the worst forms of child labour over the
next two years. The programme aims to develop a national database on
child labour in Jamaica;

craft and implement projects to remove children from the streets and
prevent child labour and implement a campaign to raise the level of
awareness on child labour. Some 22,000 or 4.6% of children within the
ages of 6 to 16 years are estimated to be involved in the child
labour in Jamaica. Many of these children can be seen at major road
intersections wiping windscreens. In some tourist resort areas,
children are forced into prostitution, one of the worst forms of
child labour. (The Gleaner)

 - NEW STEPS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING Experts from West African
countries have agreed on an action plan against trafficking in human
beings in the region following a two-day meeting in the Ghanaian
capital, Accra. The plan of action calls for Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) countries to adopt laws criminalising
trafficking in human beings.

It also urges them to build the necessary administrative structures
including working in co-operation with NGOs and other representatives
of civil society, the setting up of new special police units and
training for officials including judges, customs and immigration
officials. The plan will be submitted through the ECOWAS Ministerial
Meeting for adoption by ECOWAS heads of state at their annual summit
in December.

 - SIX PER CENT OF CHILDREN IN KARNATAKA STATE ARE LABOURERS The
Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) for Karnataka points out an increase in the number of child
labourers. The number of child workers has increased from 8.09 lakhs
in 1971 to 9.76 lakhs in the age group of five to 14 now. At least,
6% of the children are labourers today in the State. A profile of
Child Labour in Karnataka identified child workers in hotels, shops,
garages, households, construction industry, and small-scale
industries. It also identified children engaged in beedi-rolling,
cotton-ginning, quarrying, fish-processing, sericulture,
agarbatti-making, and brick-making industries.

 - UNICEF FRANCE GIVES US $104,000 FOR GIRLS EDUCATION The UNICEF
Committee of France has chosen to sponsor a girls education programme
in the Kasai provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
with a contribution of US $104,000.

The experimental programme targets nine schools in the region of
Kazumba in Kasai Occidental province and in the regions of Miabi and
Tshilenge in Kasai Oriental province. The objective of the project is
to raise the number of girls attending school full-time from 42% to
62% of the population; to reduce the rate of dropouts to less than
10%; and to raise the rate of girls continuing education at a
secondary level. The project may be expanded to other schools after
an evaluation, due to take place at the end of 2002. (IRIN)

 - WORLD BANK BACKING FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION The World Bank announced
its approval of a US $150 million interest-free credit to support
Tanzania's efforts to improve education quality, expand school access
and increase school retention at the primary level. Under the Primary
Education Development Programme project measures are to be introduced
to increase resource availability and improve their allocation and
use; improve educational inputs;

and strengthen institutional arrangements that ensure quality primary
education. Following the abolition of school fees and added school
resources, the external funding is critical particularly at the early
stage for effectively tackling the sector issues.

(IRIN)

 - ITALIAN TV AIRS REPORT ON SEX TOURISM IN COSTA RICA The largest
private television channel in Italy recently aired a revealing
investigation into the sexual exploitation of Costa Rican children by
foreign tourists. According to the award winning Italian TV producers
Sebastian Basco and Silvia Chiodin, who spent several weeks in Costa
Rica in August of this year investigating and filming the one hour
report, the program traces the life and death of 14 year old Ivette,
a sexually exploited child who was disappeared, murdered and chopped
up into pieces in December of last year. The child murderer has never
been caught and the Costa Rican judicial authorities have no leads.
(Casa Alianza)

 - SIERRA LEONE: CHILDREN REUNITED WITH FAMILIES Some 95 child
ex-combatants were reunited with their families at a ceremony in
Sierra Leone's northern town of Makeni, a statement from the UN
Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) said. The children were brought to
Makeni from the NGO Caritas-Makeni's interim care centre in Lungi, in
Port Loko district. The Special Representative of the UN
secretary-general in Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, called on the
families to welcome their children back "with open arms" and to give
them "all the support they need to grow into normal children".

 - UN DOCUMENTS CHILD LABOUR AMONG AFGHANS Latest UN report shows
that the number of Afghan children living in Afghanistan and Afghan
refugee children in Pakistan and Iran who are forced by economic
circumstances to work has increased.

Poverty and the ruling Taliban's laws restricting women's employment
drive children as young as 7 to work repairing cars, weaving carpets,
making bricks, cleaning houses and searching for scrap metal to make
up for lost household income. In Kabul, the capital, the number of
children working has nearly doubled in the last five years, to
50,000, according to the United Nations.  The trend has spread to
bordering countries with the flow of refugees.

(Baltimore Sun)

 - BAN ON CHILD LOTTERY SELLERS Children under 18 years who work for
newsagents will not be allowed to sell lottery tickets after a State
Government review. NSW Gaming and Racing Minister Richard Face said
it was illegal to sell lottery tickets to anyone under the age of 18,
yet school children employed at weekends at news agencies were
selling the tickets.  "As with any other form of gambling, the
Government believes that there should be responsible gambling
practices in place," he said. "And it is not acceptable that young
children should be in charge of implementing such practices." (The
Daily Telegraph - Sydney)

 - MEET TO CHALK OUT STRATEGY AGAINST CHILD ABUSE Arab and African
countries met for the first time in Rabat, Morocco, to discuss the
issue of sexual exploitation of children and formulate common
regional strategies. It discussed the issue of sexual exploitation of
children, in light of the six themes to be addressed during the World
Congress in Japan in December, with a special focus on types of
constraints peculiar to Arab and African countries.

The forum was one of a series of regional preparatory meetings that
are taking place for the second World Congress against Commercial
Sexual Exploitation of Children, due to be held in Yokohama, Japan,
from December 17 to 20. (Bahrain Tribune)

 - GLOBAL CAMPAIGN ON EDUCATION OUTLINES ITS EXPECTATIONS FOR
HIGH-LEVEL GROUP MEETING On the eve of the first meeting of the
High-Level Group, Global Campaign for Education sent a letter to the
UNESCO Director-General outlining the Campaign's expectations for the
outcome of the meeting. The letter welcomed UNESCO's recent efforts
to inject new momentum into the EFA agenda and its increased
recognition of the central role that civil society plays in achieving
the Dakar goals. It urged the High-Level group to push for the
completion of National EFA Plans of Action before the end of 2002 and
the creation of a Global Initiative to send a clear signal that all
viable plans will receive a speedy and appropriate response from the
donor community. It also suggested that the High-Level Group mandate
a smaller, interim working group to elaborate concrete proposals for
a Global Initiative early next year.
(http://www.campaignforeducation.org)

 - ASIAN AND PACIFIC GOVERNMENTS APPROVE ACTION PLAN TO FIGHT CHILD
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION During the recent East Asia and Pacific Regional
Consultation on the commercial sexual exploitation of children, for
the first time, delegates from around the Asia Pacific region
committed their governments to deadlines for putting in place legal
and social frameworks for preventing child sexual exploitation and
assisting survivors. The consultation was organised by ESCAP, UNICEF,
ECPAT, and the Government of Japan, in Bangkok.  It was attended by
over 200 government leaders and representatives from UN agencies,
civil society organizations and the private sector, as well as young
people from around the region. "By agreeing to time bound commitments
for the first time, governments have moved one step further towards
action on critical initiatives in this region," Ms Margie de Monchy,
UNICEF's Regional Advisor on Child Protection for East Asia and the
Pacific said.  (United Nations Information Services)

 - ACTIVISTS CALL FOR TOUGHER LAWS AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION The
ILO reports that the number of children in El Salvador who are
sexually and commercially exploited is increasing.  Along with the
Salvadoran Institute of Child Protection and other rights groups, the
ILO warns that both girls and boys are victims of this abuse. El
Salvador's Commission for Family, Women and Children calls for
legislative reforms to crack down on all those connected with child
abuse, particularly sexual and commercial exploitation.

Currently, those who are convicted of these crimes face up to three
years in prison. (San Salvador El Diario de Hoy)

 - 2001 ANTI-SLAVERY AWARD Association for Community Development
(ACD) has been chosen for the 2001 Anti-Slavery Award for its
outstanding work against trafficking in Bangladesh. Each year
thousands of women and children are trafficked from Bangladesh to
India, Pakistan and the Middle East. They are forced to work in
factories, as domestic workers or as prostitutes. ACD works to
reintegrate former trafficked persons through counselling, education
and training. The Award ceremony on 13 November 2001 marks the launch
of Anti-Slavery's campaign against trafficking.

 - VATICAN RATIFIES PROTOCOLS AGAINST CHILD SOLDIERS AND CHILD
PROSTITUTION The Vatican formally submitted its ratification of
amendments to halt the use of child soldiers and protect children
from sexual abuse and exploitation. Archbishop Renato Martino, the
Holy See's UN observer, deposited instruments of ratification of the
two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and encouraged all other nations to "join in furthering the legal
protection of children." "The fact that the Holy See has now ratified
the two optional protocols ... is another sign of its ceaseless
recognition of the fundamental importance of protecting the human
rights of children and promoting their well-being," the archbishop
said. (United Nations)

 - U. NORTH CAROLINA SIGNS ANTI-SWEATSHOP LABOUR DEAL WITH NIKE In an
agreement whose focus was not just financial gain, but also human
rights, the University of North Carolina and Nike sportswear company
collaborated last week on an eight-year merchandising agreement worth
$28 million. Under the agreement, Nike agreed to an anti-sweatshop
labour code that applies to uniforms and other merchandise with UNC's
logo. According to the code, workers are to be treated by the
internationally recognised labour codes including child labour laws,
said Scott J. Nova, the executive director of the Worker Rights
Consortium at UNC. (University Wire)

 - The 9TH CONSULTATIVE MEETING OF THE TASK FORCE TO PROTECT CHILDREN
FROM SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN TOURISM will take place on 12 November
2001 in London, UK. Information regarding activities of your
organisation/country against the sexual exploitation of children in
tourism are requested to enable the Task Force's Executive Committee
to co-ordinate actions at the international level and to identify
projects that could be potentially supported by its members in
future. For further information contact Francesca Ciabatti, World
Tourism Organization, Capitan Haya 42, 28020 Madrid, Spain. Tel: (34
91) 567 8100; Fax: (34 91) 571 3733; Email:
fciabatti@world-tourism.org; Website: www.world-tourism.org

                    *

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Upasana Choudhry Editor, Child Labour News Service c/o Global March
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