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NEWS - Clinton Calls for Ban on Abu
- Subject: NEWS - Clinton Calls for Ban on Abu
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 22:16:00
Subject: NEWS - Clinton Calls for Ban on Abusive Child Labour
Clinton Calls for Ban on Abusive Child Labour
Reuters
16-JUN-99
GENEVA, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill
Clinton appealed on Wednesday for an end to the
forcing of children into prostitution, slavery and
other abusive work as he began a week-long
European tour expected to be dominated by the
aftermath of the Kosovo conflict.
"We must wipe from the Earth the most vicious
forms of abusive child labour. Every single day,
tens of millions of children work in conditions that
shock the conscience," Clinton told the International
Labour Organisation.
Clinton, who flew overnight from Washington,
became the first U.S. president to address the U.N.
organisation responsible for establishing world
labour standards.
He threw U.S. support behind a treaty that, when
approved as expected on Thursday, would require
the ILO's 174 member states to take immediate
action to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of
child labour and remove the children from them.
The treaty would ban all forms of slavery, child
prostitution and pornography, use of children in drug
trafficking, and other work that would harm the
health, safety or morals of children under 18.
Clinton said some children were working chained to
dangerous machines. "These are not some archaic
practices out of a Charles Dickens novel. These
are things that happen in too many places today,"
he said in the ILO building overlooking Lake
Geneva.
He singled out Myanmar, formerly Burma, for
criticism, saying the government there was violating
human rights by forcing people into labour, and
called on the ILO's governing body to take action.
"Until people have the right to change their destiny,
we must stand by them and keep up the pressure
for change," he said.
Clinton said the goal was to keep free trade flowing
around the world while also protecting the interests
of working people.
He said the ILO should not stop at closing factories
where children were forced to work long hours.
Abuses would continue unless children were
assured access to schools and their parents had
jobs, he said.
Clinton said he would submit the treaty to the U.S.
Senate for ratification soon after it was approved in
Geneva. He said he had already directed the U.S.
government to ensure it did not purchase any
products made by child labour.
Clinton also met Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said they
discussed the situation in Kosovo and the challenge
of returning hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Albanians to their homes.
Later in the day he was travelling to Paris and will
also visit Germany and the former Yugoslav
republic of Slovenia. U.S. officials were also
exploring the possibility of Clinton making a stop at
an ethnic Albanian refugee camp in Macedonia.
The trip is built around the June 18-20 summit of
leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) big industrial
democracies and Russia in Cologne, Germany.
Buoying leaders as they work on the global financial
system and debt relief for poor nations is the NATO
alliance's victory in the 11-week air war against
Yugoslavia.
But an embarrassing dispute with Russia is hanging
over the summit. Moscow is refusing to let its
peacekeeping troops fall under NATO command in
Kosovo, and sent paratroopers rushing into the
war-torn province ahead of allied soldiers on
Saturday.
Lockhart would not predict that the dispute would be
settled in time for the summit. U.S. officials had
been expressing confidence that agreement could
be reached before Clinton meets Russian President
Boris Yeltsin in Germany on Sunday.
"I expect we'll reach an agreement. I'm not going to
venture a guess on a timetable to get it resolved,"
Lockhart said.
Russia sent a convoy of vehicles through Serbia on
Tuesday to resupply its troops in Kosovo, which are
based at Pristina airport where NATO had planned
the headquarters for its 50,000 soldiers in Kosovo.
The convoy reached the airport on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Defence William Cohen was to
meet Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev in
Helsinki about the crisis, which threatens to take
the shine off Clinton's European tour.
The president, accompanied by his wife Hillary and
daughter Chelsea, was to enjoy a French meal at a
Paris restaurant with French President Jacques
Chirac on Wednesday night. He meets Chirac and
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on Thursday.