ABSTRACT

One of the most hotly debated issues in the development agenda since the late 1980s has been the high incidence of child labour in Asia, Africa and Latin America (Alston 1994; Roberts 1998; Bartlett et al. 1999; White 2002). In the 1990s, heightened concern over the future welfare of millions of the world’s poorer children largely developed from widespread media coverage of childrelated issues, such as the murder of Brazilian street children by police death squads, and increased documentation on child work by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international institutions such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Increased awareness has escalated child labour as a priority issue for global institutions concerned with human rights, equity and civil society in the twenty-first century. This movement has resulted in a more child-focused development agenda, which is linked to the focus of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the provision of ‘decent work’ for youth and universal primary education, and the promotion of the largest global programme against child labour (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour – IPEC) by the ILO since the 1990s. Furthermore, NGOs and new social movements, such as workers’ organizations, have brought issues such as child trafficking and slavery to the attention of the general public across the globe, via new forms of media.