Source: Education International, 22-7-2009

India has passed a landmark bill providing for free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14. In a vote held 20 July, the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper House of Parliament, gave unanimous approval to The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill.

The Stop Child Labour Campaign interviewed the Czech EU Comissioner Vladimir Spidla on decent work: What does the EU do to fight Child Labour?

The Hindu, July 24 2009

BANGALORE: The State Government of Karnataka, India has prepared an action plan to eliminate child labour by 2011-12. It released Rs. 19 million during the last nine years (2001-02 to 2009-10) for implementing various programmes towards this end.

Source: Times Online, July 19 2009

700 miles from Delhi, a six-year old girl was found searching for mica. She works - together with a group of small children - 10 hours a day to earn her daily meal. Mica is a shiny material whose many uses include putting the sparkle into make-up. The make-up involved is sold in Europe. Times Online decided to investigate this case and ask the sellers for explanation.

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A new ILO study points out that global financial crisis may aggravate child labour, with girls facing increased risks. Declining household income and family preference for boys’ education force girls bear the double burden of working at home and outside, exposing them to abuse.

This new report on Child Labour in rural and urban Afghanistan recognizes that also very poor children can attend school. Supporting measures can be taken to increase the number of school-going children, even in an unstable and poor country like Afghanistan.

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Barack Obama took a firm stand against child labour on the World Day Against Child Labour. "We must stand united in opposition to child labor and recommit ourselves to ending this practice in all its forms – today and every day."

Ten years after the adoption of the International Labour Organization’s Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour on 12 May 1999, there is little evidence that the Chinese government, which ratified the convention in 2002, is making a determined effort to tackle the problem. The government still does not publish statistics on the extent of child labour in China, and its primary concern seems to be to keep the problem out of sight and out of mind.

Today is the perfect day to reflect on the worldwide problem of Child Labour. Why do more then 2 million children not attend school? The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) made a movie to watch on this special day.

Retailers refuse to buy cotton picked by children in inhumane conditions. This decision has forced the Uzbeki government in recent weeks to sign International Labour Organisation conventions that commit the country to stop using child labour in its state-sponsored industry.