Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Abolishing Slavery and its Contemporary Forms

1. The ILO and child labour
122. Child labour has been a special concern of the ILO from its inception. The preamble to its
Constitution commits the ILO to protecting children as one of the essential elements in the pursuit
of social justice and universal peace. The abolition of child labour is therefore one of the four main
objectives of the ILO. The Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 5) was adopted at the
very first session of the International Labour Conference. 
123. The ILO’s efforts to prevent child labour can be divided into three stages. During the first
stage, lasting from 1919 to 1973, the ILO sought to influence regulations and practice with regard
to child labour in member States principally through the adoption of international labour conven-
tions and recommendations, especially on the minimum age of admission to employment.
214
Since 1979, and especially since 1983 when child labour was the theme of the Director-General’s
211
See also Declaration of the Rights of the Child, General Assembly resolution 1386 (XIV) of 20 November 1959,
principle 2.
212
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, supra note 77, art. 10(3).
213
Jannelle M. Diller and David A. Levy, “Child Labour, Trade and Investment: Towards the Harmonisation of
International Law”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 19 (1997), p. 663.
214
The earlier standards, from 1919 to 1932, generally set the basic minimum age at 14 years and this age was
later revised to 15. The ILO conventions targeting particularly hazardous sectors set higher age limits, for example 16
years for underground work (Convention No. 123 of 1965) and up to 18 for work involving exposure to radiation
(Convention No. 115 of 1960) or dangerous chemicals (Convention No. 136 of 1971).

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