On the World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour

According to Art. 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have a right to be heard in all matters affecting their lives. In 2009, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted nine Basic Requirements for effective, ethical and meaningful participation of children in “all processes in which a child or children are heard and participate” (CRC/C/GC/12 ). These processes need to be (1) transparent and informative, (2) voluntary, (3) respectful, (4) relevant, (5) child-friendly, (6) inclusive, (7) supported by training (for adults), (8) safe and sensitive to risk and (9) accountable. 

While we acknowledge that consultations have taken place prior to the conference, involving civil society organizations, governmental stakeholders and, in some regions, working children, and that efforts have been made to involve children in connection with the conference, this is not sufficient to fully realize children's rights to be heard under Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. To meet this right, particularly organized working children and their movements must be meaningfully and safely involved in ways that are integrated into the core spaces and decision-making processes of the conference.

It is therefore with great disappointment that we note the limited realization of such meaningful participation of children in the upcoming global event. In contrast to the conference in South Africa (2022), where a Children`s Forum was jointly realized by conference organizers and NGOs, it seems that children involved in work and labor will not be heard or meaningfully involved in line with the nine basic requirements in Morocco. This is not only a violation of working children's rights but also a missed chance to learn from children who experience child work and labor from day to day.

As a consequence, we jointly decided not to register for this event. 

We jointly encourage the conference organizers to ensure safe and meaningful children`s participation prior to as well as during all future events to realize the right to be heard as enshrined in Art. 12 UN CRC. From our point of view, it is particularly important to ensure:

• Equal representation of children from different workplaces (formal/ informal, paid/ unpaid, self-employed/ contract-based, rural/urban, organized/ non-organized etc.),
• Equal involvement of the most vulnerable groups, including: stateless, refugee, migrant and displaced children, children in street situations, children with disabilities and children from indigenous communities,
• Equitable representation of the world regions (with opportunities for more representatives from regions where there are higher numbers of working children and social movements of working children).

We recognize that this demands a lot of resources and time investment. This is why we continuously offered our support in the past and also for the conference in Morocco to ensure ethical and meaningful participation of children. We continue to offer this for all future events to realize working children's right to be heard in the future World Conferences on Child Labor.