According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children are equal and have human rights such as the right to food, shelter, health care, education and freedom from violence, neglect and exploitation. The Convention also states the right of children to express their views freely in all matters affecting their lives, and the right to be listened and their views being given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity.

An important application of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is the participation of children in the fight against the worst forms of child labour, where their right to participate is not only an important principle but also a key resource in fighting against their exploitation and promoting their wellbeing.

In fact, the promotion of children’s participation in development initiatives allows them to experience new aspects of their own potential and to learn about individual responsibility, respect and recognition. It also promotes the acquisition of new social skills to communicate, negotiate, solve problems and take decisions together. Because they are part of the process by which decisions are reached, they feel more committed to make those decisions work. Specifically, children’s participation in interventions aimed at eliminating worst forms of child labour builds the foundations of a future workforce that is mature, confident and skilled. Empowering working children to reflect upon their experiences, articulate their views, plan effective programmes and advocate their own rights will enable them to challenge the status quo regarding their place and power in society. This newsletter shows different ways in which that can be done as well as lessons learnt from experiences in the field. The article of Van den Berge, for example, looks into one practical application of such forms of participation of child labourers and shows its complexities.

The adoption of a participatory approach in any child-centred policy affecting child labour in agriculture, however, should go far beyond the children themselves and include all stakeholders concerned. The active involvement of the community where the child labour takes place, the employers, teachers and the parents is essential in interventions to prevent children from entering labour that is harmful to them or to withdraw them from such situations. In fact, child labour is a sensitive issue and views on what is acceptable and what is not, often vary by context and culture. In national and international debates, in civil society, media and academics, questions about the specific effects of different forms of children's work on their wellbeing are still subject of discussion.  A fundamental reference in this debate is represented by the Conventions and Recommendations developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the global body responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards. A clear picture of ILO standards and positions on child labour in agriculture is provided in the article “Setting the scene: child labour”.

A majority of countries have adopted legislation to prohibit or place severe restrictions on the employment of children, much of it stimulated and guided by such standards. In spite of these efforts, child labour continues to exist on a massive scale, sometimes in appalling conditions, particularly in the developing world. In many countries, progress has been slow or even nonexistent, because child labour is an immensely complex issue and enforcement of ILO standards often remains problematic (ILO, 2002). Labour inspection systems and enforcement of compulsory schooling laws are often weak, especially in rural area, which makes the use of more participatory methods especially relevant for efforts to get children into school instead of work. Two of the articles show how community–based monitoring systems and the establishment of child labour committees can make communities active partners in the fight against child labour.

Thus, any intervention dealing with child labour necessarily requires the understanding of cultural and pedagogical issues related to working children’s socio-economic and cultural environment. Related concepts and discourses should be carefully analysed and agreed amongst all stakeholders involved, including the children themselves as well as their families and communities, teachers, employers, public officials from ministries and local agencies, development organizations and trade union representatives. Child labour and child work, childhood and child rights, education, health, safety and schooling are some of the concepts on which often different opinions across these stakeholders exist.  In addition, there may be different interests at stake: the case of cattle boys described in the FAO-Humboldt university article illustrates how the involvement of employers can be essential but also very challenging, in efforts to withdraw children from harmful work.

Furthermore, any action aimed at fostering decent work and prohibiting the worst forms of child labour should emerge from the aspirations of people in their working lives (regarding opportunity and income; rights, voice and recognition; family stability and personal development; and fairness and gender equality) and from awareness of the complexity of the economic, social and cultural issues involved. The article by Giselle Silva focuses on the children themselves: their feelings, their thoughts, the reasons why they are working, their perceptions on their present and their future. Through a participatory research, it provides a bottom-up view of the different conditions affecting working children in Peru, identifying their determinants and their effects on the children's personal, familiar, social and educational life in rural and urban areas.

Go to: FAO's PW newsletter n. 18 "Participation & child labour in agriculture" (English, Français, Español)