Strategic Choices in the International Campaign against Child Labor

On 17 Jun 1999, the 87th session of the General Conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted a convention & accompanying recommendation concerning the prohibition & elimination of the worst forms of child labor. The adoption of this convention represents a significant strategic shift in the international campaign against child labor. The purpose of this article is to analyze this strategic shift, & propose refinements & additional methodologies that could guide the movement. Specifically, this article will place the new convention in the context of previously existing international child labor standards, describe & critique the shift of strategy represented by the new convention, & discuss how the "entitlement" theory of the economist Amartya Sen could be beneficial in guiding the activism of the child labor movement toward greater effectiveness. Adapted from the source document.