E/CH.4/Sub.2/SR.835 page 10
36. When he had been Minister of Education of Ecuador, one of the most serious problems with which he had been confronted had been to reconcile the requirements of school attendance with the need for children in rural areas to help with the harvest; their participation had been vital for their families. In a great many cases there were practical difficulties 'ich should not, however, obscure the overall goal.
37. The International Labour Organisation had done much work, but it must be acknowledged that the conventions signed and ratified were not always implemented, particularly in the poorer countries. In his statement, the representative of ILO had reminded the Sub-Commission that the exploitation of child labour had been a characteristic of industry and in particular, the textile industry in the previous century, and that at present such exploitation had virtually disappeared in the industrialized countries. It was a different matter in the third-world countries, where the problem continued to be acute: 400 million children did not attend school and 200 million worked in unfavourable and sometimes degrading conditions.
38. In general, he was not in favour of the appointment of special rapporteurs, in view of the time required for the compilation of reports and their submission to the various bodies concerned. In the present case, however, the arguments adduced by Mr. Boudhiba had convinced him of the advisability of appointing a special rapporteur who would work with the assistance of the Secretary-General and the specialized agencies, as well as Governments, which would transmit information to him.
39. lir. AMADEO said that nowhere had he seen mentioned a particularly scandalous form of the exploitation of children, namely, begging. It was referred to in general terms in the instruments in force, in particular, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, but in view of the extent of the problem, it should be given special attention in the document that might be prepared subsequently on the problem of the exploitation of children. He requested that begging should be expressly mentioned as a form of exploitation of children.
40. ir. CEAUSU sid he, too, considered that the problem with which the Sub-Commission should concern itself was not child labour as such, but the exploitation of child labour. As a child, he himself had worked, according to tradition, tending animals on his family's farm; at the age of 15, he had been very proud to harvest the first crops he had sown.
41.
The
International legislation applicable to child labour should be improved. International Labour Organisation had formulated several conventions and recommendations in that field, but those instruments dealt with only a part of the problem under consideration and, moreover, few countries had ratified them. He there fore proposed that an instrument which would not require ratification should be drawn up
an international declaration which would deal both with the
· elimination of the exploitation of child labour and with the protection of working children. The declaration might be drafted in the United Nations or in the International Labour Organisation. In his opinion, it would be preferable for it to be formulated in the United Nations, since it would concern several problems which were not all within the competence of ILO. For its part, the Sub-Commission should not consider child labour to be bad in itself; society should see to it that children were educated and trained so that in later life they could, without false shame, particularly with regard to manual labour, do useful work for society.
The meeting rose at 12.55 p.m.