There has been a landmark policy victory for Global March Against Child Labour! UNESCO, UNICEF, ILO, the World Bank and the Global March Against Child Labour set up on November 28, a joint Global Task Force on Child Labour and Education at the Third Round Table on Education, a parallel event to the 5th High Level Group Meeting on Education in Beijing which will be mandated to seek ways to get some 280 million children workers out of factories and into schools.

The economic exploitation of children is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today in terms of human development, according to a statement released by a forum on child labour and education co-organised by the United Nations and China's Education Ministry.

Experts estimate that there are some 280 million child labourers worldwide, of them about 171 million are working in hazardous conditions and up to eight million are working under the worst possible conditions, like forced prostitution.

The secretariat for the new task force will be run by the International Labour Organisation.

Addressing the forum, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called upon developed countries to effectively help developing countries end child labour abuse. "The developing countries have experienced plenty of sufferings. People and children in these countries are in urgent need of education, development and peace," he said.

In supporting government efforts, the Global Task Force will play a significant role at national and international levels by facilitating: policy dialogue on meeting priority needs; resource mobilization; upstream assistance in policy development and reform and capacity-building among various partners, including relevant line ministries; awareness-raising and other areas of advocacy; promotion of dialogue between governments, social partners and civil society; coordination of knowledge management and identification of new areas of research . This alliance of agencies, partners and organizations sharing similar interests and responsibilities, with the active involvement of the countries concerned, will enable a more effective approach to resource management, project implementation, follow-up and monitoring.

Final Communiqué of the UNESCO Fifth High Level Group Meeting on Education for All held in Beijing during Nov 28-29, 2005 Para 20) endorses the launch of the Global Task Force on Child Labor and Education by the Ministers of Education, Government officials and members of the various international organizations. The Communique section reads as follows:  

"We acknowledge that child labour is a major obstacle to achieving EFA. We welcome the establishment of the Global Task Force on Child Labour and Education as a further step in enabling children to stop working and enjoy a quality education. We endorse its proposed role for advocacy, coordination and research in this field."