A conference on the elimination of child labor sponsored by the Government of the Netherlands and the International Labor Organization has gained wide support from the international community and is of great importance to the welfare of children around the world, according to Seventh-day Adventist liaison staff at the United Nations.

“This conference reveals the ongoing horror story for millions of children worldwide who are forced into some kind of child labor,” says Jonathan Gallagher, UN liaison director for the Adventist Church. “The scope of the problem is immense, and it demands the attention of us all. We specifically condemn the tragic violation of the rights of children whose lives are blighted by being forced into such work.”

The conference was organized to strengthen the drive for implementation of Convention 182: The Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Held February 25 to 27 in The Hague, the Netherlands, it brought together more than 300 experts and representatives from more than 50 countries.

Convention 182 calls for immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor as a matter of urgency.

In an official statement issued at the church’s world session in Toronto, Canada, in July 2000, Adventists re-affirmed their commitment to children, saying “Children are corrupted and exploited when they are used for cheap labor, sweat shops, armed conflict, and the perverted sexual pleasure of adult predators.” Consequently, “Seventh-day Adventists affirm the right of every child to a happy and stable home environment, and the freedom and support to grow up to be the person God intended.”

According to recent ILO studies, currently some 250 million children between the ages of five and 14 are working in developing countries—120 million full time, 130 million part time. Some 61 percent of this total, or nearly 153 million, are found in Asia; 32 percent, or 80 million, are in Africa; and 7 percent, or 17.5 million, live in Latin America. Child labor also exists in many industrialized countries and is emerging in East European and Asian countries that are in transition to a market economy.