Press Release

U.S. Department of Labor Awards More Than $58 Million to Eliminate Exploitive Child Labor Around the World

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor is awarding more than $58 million in fiscal year 2008 grants to combat hazardous and exploitive child labor in countries around the world.  The grants will save children from and prevent them from entering exploitive labor by providing education and other services.  Some of the funding also will be used to collect reliable data and strengthen the capacity of governments to address the problem.

“This $58 million worth of projects strives to free children around the world from exploitive child labor and help them access a new life of hope and opportunity,” said Secretary Chao.

The Labor Department competed approximately $21.75 million in grant funding for six projects in 13 countries.  These include projects to combat exploitive child labor in Guinea, Jordan, Madagascar, Nicaragua and Yemen, as well as support for research on forced labor in Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Liberia and the Philippines.  Recipients of the awards include international, nonprofit, for-profit and faith-based organizations.

In addition, the department awarded $36.3 million to the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) for projects in seven countries (Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, India, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda) and support for several multi-region projects.

“We need to continue to send the message that investing in education for children is not just the right thing to do, it’s the best investment a country can make in its economic future,” said Charlotte M. (Charlie) Ponticelli, the Labor Department’s deputy undersecretary for international labor affairs.

Since 1995, the Congress has appropriated approximately $660 million to the Department of Labor to support efforts to combat exploitive child labor internationally.  As a result of that funding, the department has succeeded in rescuing more than one million children from exploitive child labor.

For more information, visit www.dol.gov/ilab and http://www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft.

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