Roadmap to 2016

The expected outcome of the conference is a Roadmap with concrete steps to achieve the goal of eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016. Drafts of the Roadmap will be developed during a consultative process prior to The Hague Global Child Labour Conference.

The Roadmap, envisaged to be adopted at The Hague Global Child Labour Conference 2010, will be a concise document that spells out how progress against child labour could be accelerated in the aftermath of the global economic crisis, and prior to the target dates for the Millennium Development Goals (2015) and the elimination of worst forms of child labour (2016).

The Roadmap might cover the following issues:

• how the Worst Forms of Child Labour and its effective elimination is embedded in issues of social exclusion and broader policy issues such as (access to) quality education, development and human rights;
• what governments, workers’ organizations, employers’ organizations, NGOs, international & regional organizations and other parties should do within countries and across regions to reach the 2016 target - while factoring-in country differences and challenges;
• how the worldwide movement against child labour can be re-invigorated to contribute most effectively to reaching the 2016 target; and
• how progress until 2016 and beyond can be monitored.

Process for the development of the Roadmap to 2016

Given the tight agenda at the Conference in combination with the large number of participants and the three working languages, it is envisaged that the Roadmap is developed to a large extent before the Conference.

Mr. Ad Melkert, former minister of Social Affairs and Employment of the Netherlands, former associate administrator of the UNDP and at present UN Special Envoy to Iraq, will serve as a Special Rapporteur for the Roadmap. In that capacity, he will guide the development of a text envisaged to be adopted at The Hague Global Child Labour Conference.

The process to develop a Roadmap includes two broad based consultations on the content of the Roadmap with a consultative group in November 2009 and March 2010. This group - composed of 20 representatives, including governments covering the various regions, employers’ and workers’ organizations, NGOs, and international organizations - will provide advice and guidance to the Rapporteur (and his secretariat) in terms of the directions and content of the Roadmap, and in terms of challenges to be anticipated with regards to the envisaged adoption of the Roadmap at the Conference.

In addition, there will be electronic consultations to engage a broader set of stakeholders. In the months leading up to The Hague Global Child Labour Conference, all participants will be consulted on the contents of the Roadmap.

At the Conference, the Special Rapporteur will lead a plenary discussion of the final draft of the Roadmap. After this, a final text will be prepared by the Rapporteur, supported by a small drafting committee that represents the various types of organizations that are present at the Conference. Participation in this drafting committee might be sought from members of the consultative group.

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