Hand in hand.

• Position: Partnerships - Professional soccer and Unicef campaign against child labor - Brief Article

At this year's World Cup, the focus will be on more than just soccer. UNICEF and FIFA have agreed to dedicate the event to children. Portuguese soccer player Luis Figo, world footballer of the year in 2001, has been named UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

Another UN agency is linking the sport to its own mandate. The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched its latest campaign against exploitative child labour practices to coincide with the start of the 2002 African Cup of Nations in Bamako, Mali. The "Red Card to Child Labour" campaign is symbolized by the red card handed out by referees for serious violations of rules on the soccer field. ILO aims to take the initiative worldwide to include the World Cup and seize on the popularity of the African Cup to generate the widest possible public awareness of the harsh reality of child labour, as well as to encourage people to support the global movement against it.

"Child labour is neither a sport nor a pastime", ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said. "Working hand in hand with the world's most popular sport, we hope to galvanize the global campaign against child labour with this potent symbol--the red card that means you're out of the game."

The campaign adds a new symbolic element to the global struggle against child labour, exemplified by the rapid ratification of the Organization's most recent labour standard--the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO Convention No. 182)--which was adopted in 1999 and came into force on 19 November 2000. In less than three years, more than 100 countries have ratified this Convention, the fastest ratification in the ILO 82-year history. Of the 115 countries ratifying it, 30 are from Africa, including the first two: Seychelles and Malawi. While Africa today is home to some 40 per cent, or about 80 million, of the world's child workers, it has in many ways led the way in the struggle against child labour, especially in its worst forms.

In 1990, 80 per cent of primary school children worldwide were either enrolled in or actually attending school. At the end of the decade, the global ratio had increased to 82 per cent. The gender gap has been halved, but the number of children...