The countries of the region meet from today until tomorrow in Buenos Aires - Argentina - to align their participation in the next IV World Conference on the sustained Eradication of child labor, which will take place in November in the same city. They consider a priority to carry out an analysis of the policies and programs of social and economic inclusion related to child labor, forced labor and the creation of quality jobs for young people, topics to be discussed at the IV Conference in November of this year in Argentina . Being able to share your experience with the rest of the world and collaborate with the establishment of new steps will be your goal.

The double day has the purpose of recognizing, through social dialogue, the common challenges around these three topics and conceiving a continental agenda that allows countries to define the strategic and most interesting approaches that should be addressed during the IV Conference. . This will be key to finding innovative solutions that drive and bring the region closer to sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth.

Prior to the start of the meeting, a sectoral discussion forum on child labor in the Americas was held, where representatives of the government, worker, and employer group debated their role, approaches of interest, and expectations for this preparatory meeting.

Later, the event was opened by Ernesto Leguizamón, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security of Argentina; Laerte Teixeira, Secretary for Social Policies of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers of the Americas (CSA), as Regional Representative of Workers; Octavio Carvajal, Regional Focal Point of Employers of the Regional Initiative; Gerardina González, Deputy Regional Director of the ILO Office for the Americas; and, Gustavo Zlauvinen, Representative of the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

In this regard, the Deputy Regional Director of the ILO pointed out that this meeting is a positive consultation so that the continent arrives very well prepared in November and shows the world its progress. He also recalled that, thanks to the effort and shared work of the last 20 years between governments, workers 'and employers' organizations, civil society and international cooperation, Latin America and the Caribbean has achieved that more than 7.5 million of children and adolescents stop working, being one of the regions of the world that has made the most progress towards this goal.

For example, in the panel “From Oslo to Buenos Aires”, Elena Montobbio, from the Technical Secretariat of the Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labor, recounted the efforts, obstacles and challenges that contributed to the progress in the prevention and eradication of child labor in the region. To view his presentation, click here .

For the second day the agenda includes the development of three workshops; the first will be on the prevention and sustained eradication of child labor; the second on eradicating forced labor and human trafficking; and, the third is focused on the challenges for the generation of young employment. At the end of the day the scope of these will be shared in a plenary session.

About the IV World Conference

At the IV World Conference, countries will be able to share and exchange experiences of effective policies, programs and intervention models that they implemented to accelerate the reduction of child labor. The high-level discussion that is generated will seek to consolidate the global and joint commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 8, which indicates “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”, and Target 8.7 which urges us to end child labor by 2025 and eradicate forced labor by 2030.

We invite you to review the presentation of the Technical Secretariat of the Regional Initiative