Dang Ke Duc for the ILO/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nc-nd)
Foreword
The Beyond Slavery and Trafficking team is delighted to publish the letter below as part of our ‘case studies and critiques’ stream. The document—endorsed by over 50 leading academics, human rights practitioners, and advocates in the area of children and youth labour—calls on the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child to avoid binding the proposed ‘General Comment on the Rights of Adolescents’ to the ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138) or the minimum age standards set out in that convention.
Instead, the letter’s signatories call on the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child to reference ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182). The signatories’ support for Convention 182 in this specific instance is subject to the proviso that, prior to any application, the voices of children who will be impacted are listened to and acted upon; their rights will be respected; and that their best interests (decided in conjunction with the children themselves) will be prioritised in all cases. The letter furthermore rejects the blanket application of ILO Convention No. 182, and instead suggests that its application should be guided by careful consideration of the social, cultural, and economic circumstances within which children live and labour.
