Global March Against Child Labour, a movement to mobilise worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, has launched an online global petition in the lead up to the MDG summit (20-22 September, New York).
The petition aims to draw attention to the continued existence of child labour and its linkages with the MDGs. Child labour not only obstructs the achievement of the MDGs, but also without achieving the MDGs, child labour cannot be eliminated. Therefore, the petition calls upon the United Nations (UN) and UN Member States to mainstream child labour into the MDG monitoring and review process, and to establish child labour indicators for each of the MDGs.
In addition, it urges the UN and Member States to allocate adequate resources to the elimination and prevention of all forms of child labour – including through the establishment of a Global Financial Transaction Tax; and to reinforce coherence across development programmes to ensure more effective and efficient use of development aid, in particular by linking the MDG monitoring and review process with the Roadmap for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016.
Global March will present a copy of the petition and signatories to the UN Secretary-General in September 2010 and will maintain the campaign during the follow-up to the MDG Summit.
For more information and to access the petition, click here.
See also the Global March policy note Child Labor, Education and MDGs