Total Number of Pages: 4
Suggested Title: Eradicating Abusive Child Labor
New Resolution (based on resolution 3083 which expired without action at GC2016) General Church Budget Implications: None
Global Implications: Yes
Then he called a little child over to sit among the disciples, and said, “I assure you that if you don’t turn your lives around and become like this little child, you will definitely not enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who humble themselves like this little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2-4)
In the Gospels, the disciples’ attitude toward children and their ability to “become as a little child” is a measure of their attitude toward God. Protecting and nurturing children is one of our most sacred human responsibilities. The United Methodist Social Principles call us to advocate for the safety, well-being and development of all children and to protect them from exploitation and harm. Children have the right to adequate nutrition, health services, housing, education, recreation and protection against all forms of discrimination, cruelty, and neglect.
Childhood is under assault throughout the world. Children are forced to cope with warfare, forced migration, famine and disease. Many children are also forced into labor under abusive and destructive conditions. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 152 million children around the world are coerced, forced, bonded, enslaved, or working for unfair wages. Many of these jobs put children at risk of injury or death, impede their educational, moral, and social development, and can lead to lifelong physical and psychological damage.
Although present in every economy, the social and economic forces that give rise to forced child labor are particularly acute in the world’s poorest economies. Global demand for low-cost materials and products, continues to fuel growth in the employment of children in export
industries including agriculture, mining, and garment production. Child labor and trafficking are also prevalent in the retail, manufacturing, and service industries.
Both the United Nations (UN) and ILO have established principles to protect children from forced labor. These include the UN International Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Convention No. 138 for Minimum Age for Admission to Work. The only two countries that have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are the United States and Somalia; Somalia is unable to proceed with ratification due to a lack of recognized government. Since 1973, 171 countries have ratified Convention No. 138 for the Minimum Age for Admission to Work which entered into force in 1976. Australia, Bangladesh, Cook Islands, Islamic Republic of Iran, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, New Zealand, Palau, Saint Lucia, Somalia, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, United States, and Vanuata have yet to ratify the convention.
We therefore call on United Methodists to:
1. Support public policies that include the ratification and enforcement of international labor conventions regarding child labor;
2. Work to eradicate forced child labor and address the underlying social and economic forces that give rise to it. Individuals and organizations can connect with the Child Labor Coalition, a broad-based coalition of medical, welfare, faith, consumer, labor, and human-rights organizations in the United States;
3. Join the education campaign of the Global March Against Child Labor – a movement to mobilize worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the rights to receive a free, meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation;
4. Support consumer initiatives that market goods made without exploited child labor;
5. Exercise our rights as individual and institutional shareholders to influence corporate practices;
6. Contact decision-makers and urge them to support legislative and administrative measures to enforce bans against the international trafficking in goods made by child labor;
7. Support unilateral and multilateral aid and development policies that address root causes of child labor including: a lack of basic education; gender, religion, ethnic and caste prejudice; insufficient family income and unbalanced development schemes that disadvantage certain populations; and
8. Work toward the reform of local, regional, and national labor laws to provide stronger protection of farm workers’ rights and to bring child labor restrictions into conformity with international standards.
Date: August 26, 2019
The Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe
General Secretary
Bishop Sally Dyck
President of the Board
General Board of Church & Society
Phone: 202-488-5629
E-mail Address: gso@umcjustice.org