The Commission on Human Rights,

Recalling its resolution 1996/85 of 24 April 1996 and General Assembly resolutions 51/76 and 51/77 of 12 December 1996 and the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the World Summit for Children in 1990 (A/45/625, annex), and reaffirming the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (A/CONF.157/23), which states that national and international mechanisms and programmes for the defence and protection of children, in particular those in especially difficult circumstances, should be strengthened, including through effective measures to combat exploitation and abuse of children such as female infanticide, harmful child labour, sale of children and their organs, child prostitution and child pornography as well as other forms of sexual abuse, and which reaffirms that all human rights and fundamental freedoms are universal and thus unreservedly include persons

with disabilities,

Taking note of the work carried out by:

(a) The Committee on the Rights of the Child;

(b) The United Nations Children's Fund;

(c) The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

(d) The expert appointed by the Secretary-General to undertake a study on the impact of armed conflict on children;

(e) The working groups on draft optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one relating to the involvement of children in armed conflict, and one relating to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;

(f) Other relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, regional organizations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, and encouraging the establishment of bodies and institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, to monitor, carry out or support activities in favour of children,

Profoundly concerned that the situation of children in many parts of the world remains critical as a result of poverty, inadequate social and economic conditions, natural disasters, armed conflicts, displacement, economic and sexual exploitation, illiteracy, hunger, intolerance and disability, and inadequate legal protection, and convinced that urgent and effective national and international action is called for,

Recognizing that legislation alone is not enough to prevent violations of the rights of the child, that stronger political commitment is needed and that Governments should implement their laws and complement legislative measures with effective action, inter alia in the fields of law enforcement and in the administration of justice, and in social, educational and public health programmes,

Recommending that, within their mandates, all relevant human rights mechanisms and all other relevant organs and mechanisms of the United Nations system and the supervisory bodies of the specialized agencies pay attention to particular situations in which children are in danger and where their rights are violated and that they take into account the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child,

Reaffirming that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children,

 ……

 VI

 Elimination of exploitation of child labour

 17. Welcomes:

(a) Recent studies and reports by the United Nations Children's Fund and the International Labour Organization on child labour;

(b) The measures taken by Governments to eliminate the exploitation of child labour, while recalling the Programme of Action for the Elimination of the Exploitation of Child Labour, and calls upon relevant United Nations agencies, in particular the United Nations Children's Fund and the International Labour Organization, to continue to support national efforts in this regard;

(c) The governmental initiatives to convene international conferences on various forms of child labour, such as the ones held in Amsterdam in February 1997 and in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, in March 1997 and the ones to be convened in Cartagena, Colombia, in May 1997 and in Oslo in October 1997;

(d) The efforts by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the area of child labour, takes note of its recommendations and encourages the Committee as well as other relevant human rights treaty bodies, within their respective mandates, to continue to monitor this growing problem when examining reports of States parties;

18. Calls upon all States:

(a) That have not yet done so to consider ratifying the conventions of the International Labour Organization relating to the elimination of the exploitation of child labour, in particular those concerning the abolition of forced labour and the minimum age for employment, including for particularly hazardous work for children, and to implement those conventions, and urges them, as

a matter of priority, to eliminate all extreme forms of child labour, such as forced labour, bonded labour and other forms of slavery;

(b) To take the necessary legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to provide for a minimum age or minimum ages for admission to employment, appropriate regulation of the hours and conditions of employment, and appropriate penalties or other sanctions to ensure their effective enforcement and to ensure the protection of children from economic exploitation, in particular protection from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or harmful to the child's health or development;

(c) In line with international commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development and other relevant United Nations conferences, to set specific target dates for eliminating all forms of child labour that are contrary to accepted international standards and for ensuring the full enforcement of relevant existing laws and, where appropriate, enacting legislation necessary

to implement their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and International Labour Organization standards ensuring the protection of working children;

(d) To translate into concrete action their commitment to the progressive and effective elimination of all forms of exploitative child labour, starting with its most intolerable forms, and to implement, inter alia, national action plans, the resolution on the elimination of child labour adopted by the International Labour Conference at its eighty-third session in 1996 and other relevant

resolutions on the subject adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights;

(e) To support the proposed drafting by the International Labour Organization of an instrument aimed at eradicating the most intolerable forms of child labour;

(f) To recognize the right to education by making primary education compulsory and ensuring that all children have access to free primary education as a key strategy to prevent child labour;

(g) To systematically assess and examine, in close cooperation with international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, the magnitude, nature and causes of the exploitation of child labour, and to develop and implement strategies for combating these practices, including attention to specific dangers faced by girls;

(h) To strengthen international cooperation, inter alia through the United Nations programme of advisory services in the field of human rights, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour of the International Labour Organization and activities of the United Nations Children's Fund, as a means of assisting Governments in preventing or combating violations of

the rights of the child, including the exploitation of child labour;

19. Decides to request the Secretary-General, when reporting on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 51/77, to cooperate closely with relevant actors and United Nations specialized agencies, in particular the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, in order to provide information on initiatives aimed at eliminating the exploitation of child labour and to recommend ways and means to improve cooperation at the national and international levels in this field;

 VIII

21. Decides:

(a) To request the Secretary-General to follow up the recommendation by the General Assembly to appoint for a period of three years a special representative on the impact of armed conflict on children;

(b) Also to request the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at its fifty-fourth session a report on the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

(c) To continue its consideration of the question at its fifty-fourth session under the agenda item entitled "Rights of the child".

70th meeting