This public lecture is now available as: MP3 (please listen to the file below in three parts) and PDF (as a courtesy to the presenter, please contact her for permission to refer to her PowerPoint notes for the purpose of further research). 

The 1999 ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Convention 182) has achieved near universal ratification in little more than twelve years, yet the ILO estimates that over 115 million children still suffer in one of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). This is just wrong. All ILO members, including Australia and the 27 EU Member States have made a commitment to work towards the complete eradication of WFCL by 2016. With five short years to go to this target date, this presentation takes a look at the current EU approach to WFCL and considers what more could be done, with a focus on children in hazardous work and the contribution - if any - that trade policy can make.

 

Anya Oram is the Human Rights Coordinator for the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission. She is responsible for ensuring policy coherence within DG Trade and the European Commission on trade-related human rights issues, with a particular focus on labour rights. In 2010, she was also the European Commission’s focal point on fair trade issues, following up on the Commission’s 2010 Communication on Sustainability Assurance Schemes, ensuring consistency of approach across the Commission and animating work with the International Trade Centre in Geneva on the transparency of these schemes. Anya Oram has previously held a variety of positions within DG Trade, while from 2005 to 2009 she was head of the Economic and Commercial Affairs (ECA) Section of the Delegation of the European Commission in Ottawa.