Geneva - 10 December 2017
Seventy years after its adoption, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains the milestone document laying out the inalienable rights of every human being.
Though significant progress has been made over the past decades, realities faced by 152 million children who are still in child labour show that much work is still needed to ensure that every man, woman and child can fully enjoy their rights
Human Rights Day
This Human Rights Day, the ECLT Foundation joins the international movement to #StandUp4HumanRights. ECLT affirms our commitment to fight the root causes of child labour, like poverty and lack of access to education, which touch many of the rights enshrined in Universal Declaration. December 10, 2017 also marks the third anniversary of the signing of the ECLT Members' Pledge of Commitment and Minimum Standards, a sector-wide commitment for members to address child labour in their respective tobacco-sourcing supply chains, based on international human rights frameworks.
What does "Standing up for Human Rights" mean in the fight against child labour in rural communities where tobacco is grown? In the ECLT Foundation's collaborative approach, we join with partners to promote rights like:
EDUCATION
By providing education opportunities and infrastructure for schools, the ECLT Foundation helps give children a better chance to succeed in life – a means to escape poverty, training for a job that uses their gifts and talents, and someday, an income to support their own children so that they can end the vicious cycle of child labour. Since 2011, over 27,000 children have been supported to go to school or receive vocational training through ECLT projects.
ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING
Poverty is one of the key root causes of child labour. The ECLT Foundation works with communities to increase economic opportunities for families so they can better deal with this everyday struggle. Since 2011, ECLT projects have improved financial skills and access to credit of more than 68,000 families so they can pay school fees, start businesses and improve their living conditions.
An adequate standard of living also includes access food, clean water and health services, often lacking in the rural communities where ECLT works. Through our projects, we provide meals for children at schools, build wells and bathrooms for schools and communities, and teach children and young people about hygiene and basic health safety.
DECENT WORK
Training farmers on how to assess and manage risks on farms, improves conditions for everyone on the farm, including young workers. The ECLT Foundation is currently working with the ILO to develop evidence-based advice on hazardous work in tobacco growing which will safeguard decent working conditions for millions of young workers worldwide. In Malawi, ECLT has already helped 30,000 farmers gain access to health and safety training materials.
For more information:
Email: media@eclt.org Phone: +41 (0) 22 306 14 44