NEWS - Clinton Calls for Ban on Abu

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Subject: NEWS - Clinton Calls for Ban on Abusive Child Labour

Clinton Calls for Ban on Abusive Child Labour

               Reuters
               16-JUN-99

               GENEVA, June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill
               Clinton appealed on Wednesday for an end to the
               forcing of children into prostitution, slavery and
               other abusive work as he began a week-long
               European tour expected to be dominated by the
               aftermath of the Kosovo conflict. 

               "We must wipe from the Earth the most vicious
               forms of abusive child labour. Every single day,
               tens of millions of children work in conditions that
               shock the conscience," Clinton told the International
               Labour Organisation. 

               Clinton, who flew overnight from Washington,
               became the first U.S. president to address the U.N.
               organisation responsible for establishing world
               labour standards. 

               He threw U.S. support behind a treaty that, when
               approved as expected on Thursday, would require
               the ILO's 174 member states to take immediate
               action to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of
               child labour and remove the children from them. 

               The treaty would ban all forms of slavery, child
               prostitution and pornography, use of children in drug
               trafficking, and other work that would harm the
               health, safety or morals of children under 18. 

               Clinton said some children were working chained to
               dangerous machines. "These are not some archaic
               practices out of a Charles Dickens novel. These
               are things that happen in too many places today,"
               he said in the ILO building overlooking Lake
               Geneva. 

               He singled out Myanmar, formerly Burma, for
               criticism, saying the government there was violating
               human rights by forcing people into labour, and
               called on the ILO's governing body to take action. 

               "Until people have the right to change their destiny,
               we must stand by them and keep up the pressure
               for change," he said. 


               Clinton said the goal was to keep free trade flowing
               around the world while also protecting the interests
               of working people. 

               He said the ILO should not stop at closing factories
               where children were forced to work long hours.
               Abuses would continue unless children were
               assured access to schools and their parents had
               jobs, he said. 

               Clinton said he would submit the treaty to the U.S.
               Senate for ratification soon after it was approved in
               Geneva. He said he had already directed the U.S.
               government to ensure it did not purchase any
               products made by child labour. 

               Clinton also met Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss.
               White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said they
               discussed the situation in Kosovo and the challenge
               of returning hundreds of thousands of ethnic
               Albanians to their homes. 

               Later in the day he was travelling to Paris and will
               also visit Germany and the former Yugoslav
               republic of Slovenia. U.S. officials were also
               exploring the possibility of Clinton making a stop at
               an ethnic Albanian refugee camp in Macedonia. 

               The trip is built around the June 18-20 summit of
               leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) big industrial
               democracies and Russia in Cologne, Germany.
               Buoying leaders as they work on the global financial
               system and debt relief for poor nations is the NATO
               alliance's victory in the 11-week air war against
               Yugoslavia. 

               But an embarrassing dispute with Russia is hanging
               over the summit. Moscow is refusing to let its
               peacekeeping troops fall under NATO command in
               Kosovo, and sent paratroopers rushing into the
               war-torn province ahead of allied soldiers on
               Saturday. 

               Lockhart would not predict that the dispute would be
               settled in time for the summit. U.S. officials had
               been expressing confidence that agreement could
               be reached before Clinton meets Russian President
               Boris Yeltsin in Germany on Sunday. 

               "I expect we'll reach an agreement. I'm not going to
               venture a guess on a timetable to get it resolved,"
               Lockhart said. 

               Russia sent a convoy of vehicles through Serbia on
               Tuesday to resupply its troops in Kosovo, which are
               based at Pristina airport where NATO had planned
               the headquarters for its 50,000 soldiers in Kosovo.
               The convoy reached the airport on Wednesday. 

               U.S. Secretary of Defence William Cohen was to
               meet Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev in
               Helsinki about the crisis, which threatens to take
               the shine off Clinton's European tour. 


               The president, accompanied by his wife Hillary and
               daughter Chelsea, was to enjoy a French meal at a
               Paris restaurant with French President Jacques
               Chirac on Wednesday night. He meets Chirac and
               French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on Thursday.