 September 17, 2018
Child Labour Free Zones in India and Africa
A Child Labour Free Zone is a (geographical) area where all working children are being withdrawn from child labour and are (re)integrated into formal, full-time quality schools. If children are above the legal working age they shall get the chance to continue their education and/or receive vocational education/training or enter decent youth employment.
 This approach was successfully pioneered in India by the MV Foundation who withdrew more than a million children from work and guided them into school. Their approach is now also part of the Education Act.
The MVF approach has also inspired Africa, where it is already being implemented in 6 countries while more countries are planning to do so.
Between 16 and 19th of April 2013 120 delegates from 24 countries, within and outside the African continent, gathered at the Conference Out of Work, Into School - Working towards Child Labour Free Zones in Kampala, Uganda. During this conference, organized by Stop Child Labour and her local partners, the area-based approach and the Child Labour Free Zones were discussed as the most effective and successful way to combat child labour in Africa.
Read more about – among others - the Child Labour Free Zones, watch the speech of Dutch Minister of Trade and Development Co-operation and read the Kampala Declaration and the Conference Background Paper.
| Sep 13, 2018: |
Successful training about Business and Human Rights in India (Stop Child Labour)
The training Responsible Business Behaviour for Creating Child Labour Free Zones strenghtens organizations in cooperating with companies to realize child labour free production in India. The last training under this programme took place in March 2018 in Dehli. The training was organized by the Stop Child Labour India Platform.
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| Dec 19, 2017: |
New Report Proposes Strategies for Reducing Child Labour in Agra, India (Fair Labor Association/Stop Child Labour)
Fair Labor Association and Stop Child Labour recommend creation of ‘Child Labour Free Zone’ and more responsible and transparent supply chains in leather and footwear production.
A new research study from the Fair Labor Association (FLA), iMentor and the Stop Child Labour Coalition (SCL) confirms the substantial prevalence of child labour in footwear production in the city of Agra, one of India’s primary centers of domestic and export production of leather footwear(around 25% of the Indian export of shoes is being produced in in Agra). The research report Children’s Lives at Stake - Working Together to End Child Labour in Agra Footwear Production is being published today.
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| Jun 12, 2017: |
Successes and lessons from Stop Child Labour evaluation (Stop Child Labour)
An external Stop Child Labour evaluation concludes that there is a significant reduction of child labour and increased school attendance in child labour free zones. The evaluation furthers confirms the broader impact in child labour free zones on health, safety, social cohesion, incomes of adults and an existing norm that no child should work and all children should go to school.
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| Mar 2017: |
Cooperating with the Private Sector in Child Labour Free Zones in India (brochure Stop Child Labour)
Efforts to reduce and remediate child labour require attention from multiple angles. One key element is the role of the private sector. This guide focuses on how Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Trade Unions can effectively engage private sector actors in their efforts to eradicate child labour, including by cooperating with them in an area-based approach, working towards Child Labour Free Zones.
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| Jan 2017: |
Child Labour Free Zones in India (flyer Stop Child Labour)
A child labour free zone is a specific area,
such as a village, plantation, urban
neighborhood or an industrial cluster,
where everyone is convinced that ‘No child
should be working, every child should be in
school!’ Teachers, local authorities, village
leaders, employers, parents and children in
these zones work together to get children
out of work and into school. Child labour is
no longer accepted, because all children
are entitled to good, full-time education.
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| Dec 2016: |
Two districts in Indian T-Shirts Town Tirupur now free of child labour
In May 2014 Stop Child Labour started the program Out of work and into school, with ICN as an active partner. We are working on expanding and strengthening child labour free zones, where possible with the active involvement of companies. We are committed to help children from sectors such as clothing, stone (both India) and coffee (Uganda) to go from work to school. Since 2014, there have been set up child labour free zones in 76 areas worldwide. Nearly 10,000 children were removed from work and to school or protected against early school leaving. On 28 December, in the Indian city of Tirupur, where many of our T-shirts come from, two wards celebrated that they are child labour free now. It is also the start of more activities to get more children from work to school.
See the five-minute film made about this celebration: https://youtu.be/VvYK-eW0kRw. A written report is also available: http://www.indianet.nl/pdf/SAVE-CLFZ-StateConferenceReport.pdf.
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11 min; English/French/Spanish) (Campaign 'Stop Child Labour')
Landelijke India Werkgroep - September 17, 2018