2005 Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Katherine H. Canavan Launch of TECL and RECLISA Child Labor Projects

October 7 th, 2005

Permanent Secretary for Labor and Home Affairs Mr. Palai,
Commissioner of Labor Mr. Mojafi,
Senior officials of the Department of Labor,
Representatives of the ILO,
Members of civil society organizations and other stakeholders . . .

I am pleased to be here today to participate in the joint launch of two child labor projects funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Government of Botswana’s active involvement in these projects testifies to the importance that both our nations assign to respect for human rights in general and the rights and welfare of our children in particular.

According to ILO estimates, approximately 120 million children between the ages of five and 14 work full-time around the world. Often these children are exploited to the detriment of their physical, moral and intellectual development.

Children work in mines, garment factories and farms, frequently in dangerous and unsafe conditions. They also work as domestics and prostitutes, subject to abuse by their employers.

Certainly not all work is harmful to children. Indeed, limited exposure to the world of work can be beneficial to young people. However, many children who work – even in otherwise tolerable conditions – sacrifice their education and adult career goals to the immediate need to support themselves and their families.

Child labor, when it comes at the cost of a child’s well-being, development, or education, not only harms the child but has an adverse impact on the country’s economic development. Evidence suggests that there is a link between greater investment in education and economic growth. On an individual level, increased education typically results in increased productivity, ultimately leading to better job opportunities and higher wages.

The social benefits of educating kids, rather than sending them to work, are significant. They include every aspect of society: from greater political participation, reduced criminal activity, less dependence on social support programs, and increased life expectancy.

USG Commitment to Eliminating Child Labor

Recognizing that child labor undermines development as well as being detrimental to human rights, the U.S. has provided nearly $300 million to 67 countries over the past ten years through the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.

As fellow democracies and trading partners, we believe that the U.S. and Botswana have a common interest in safeguarding the welfare of our children by eliminating child labor.

We are here today to launch two projects designed to promote that common interest: Towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (TECL), and Reducing Exploitative Child Labor in Southern Africa (RECLISA). Both of these multi-year projects involve Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, allowing lessons learned in one country to be transferred to another.

The TECL project uses progress made in South Africa as its model, and has as its ultimate goal the development of a comprehensive country strategy to address child labor issues. Such a comprehensive approach identifies all the factors that contribute to child labor, from infrastructure issues that require a child to walk for hours to fetch drinking water to education issues such as a family’s need for subsidized school fees.

The RECLISA project focuses on keeping at-risk children in school. Working with local NGOs, the project endeavors to find places of safety for children who have lost their homes, and provides counseling and guidance to assure that children are able to remain off the streets.

We are confident that these projects will contribute significantly toward our common goal of eliminating child labor.

We very much appreciate this opportunity to work with you to ensure that the children touched by these programs have a chance to reach their fullest potential. They are our future.

Thank you.