Statement of Purpose: The complex issues arising from child1 labor have been addressed in several of the most significant ways -- yielding the most important lessons--in the Asia/Pacific region. It is in the Asia/Pacific region too, that the greatest number of child1 laborers lives. Our conference will address the complexities of child1 labor and review the range of key "solutions" to improve the condition of children -- especially impoverished, working children -- in the region.

Format: Brief presentations followed by round-table discussion, to ensure participation by all members

Background: Some people claim that abusive child1 labor is an inevitable byproduct of agrarian and developing economies. But is this accurate? What measures will alleviate abuses and hasten the elimination of exploitation?

The United States is now the largest contributor to the ILO's International Programme On The Eradication of Child Labor. At the same time, the United States and US-based business have been accused of contributing to increases in child1 labor, through trade practices that allegedly expand inequality, or through the strong US role in promoting neo-liberal economic policies through the activities of multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the IMF. What role can the United States play in alleviating the problem -- and what role is it playing now? Are the critiques accurate?

The term "child1 labor " conjures up images of poor young people, working in unsafe conditions, receiving inadequate wages, their health imperiled for life and their opportunity for education denied. What policies are appropriate to bring the worst practices to a swift though humane end?

Much of the debate has been highly polemical, but more recently, the tone of the discussion has begun to change. It has begun to focus on the concrete measures that can be undertaken to improve the conditions under which children work, and to eliminate the abuses and exploitation to which millions of children are subjected. Participants in this roundtable will share the latest empirical findings on child1 labor in Asia and identify policies that are at the cutting edge in dealing with this issue.

Wednesday, Februrary 7
WELCOME BUFFET AT PHOTO EXHIBIT OPENING
(OPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR PARTICIPANTS)
Bechtel International House, Stanford University
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Exhibit of photographs of individual child1 laborers from India, Cambodia, Peru and a child1 soldier story from Burundi. These work-in-progress photo-documentary essays are produced by the "Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change" team of professional photographers and writers from 11 countries.

For a preview, see: www.childlaborphotoproject.org

Presenters: Julia Dean, founder & lead photographer, Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change, and Inderjit Khurana, Ruchika Social Service Organization (a participant in the symposium whose NGO is subject of one of the photo essays)

Thursday, February 8
SYMPOSIUM -- DAY ONE
8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall, Stanford University

INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
9 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Henry Rowen, Director, Asia/Pacific Research Center

ADMINISTRATIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS
9:15 a.m. - 9:25 a.m.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
9:30 a.m. - 10:40 a.m.
Hon. Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, Permanent Representative from Bangladesh to the United Nations

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
10:55 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
(30 mins presentation; discussants will be asked to give 10-minute responses; followed by open discussion)

Policies at Work In The Field: Report from the International Labor Organization/International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO/IPEC) Moderator: Kirk Hanson, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Introductory presenters: Thetis Mangahas, ILO/IPEC and Rijk van Haarlem, ILO/IPEC
Discussant: Ben White, Institute for Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
1:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

Asia/Pacific Development -- Child Labor And Economics
Moderator: Rafiq Dossani, Asia/Pacific Research Center, Stanford University
Introductory presenter: Kaushik Basu, Cornell University
Lead-off discussant: Tom Cove, Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
3:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
(50-20 mins presentation, followed by open discussion)

Child Labor: Alternate Visions of the Problem and Solutions
Moderator: Sarah Bachman, Asia/Pacific Research Center
Introductory presenter: William E. Myers, Visiting Scholar, University of California at Davis
Discussant: Cecelia Flores-Oebanda, Visayan Forum Foundation
Center for Migrant Working Children, part Child Workers in Asia

Open Discussion
4:45 p.m.-5:30 p.m.
(moderated discussion, 2-5 minute interventions)

Moderator: William Gould IV, Stanford Law School
Introductory presenter: Andrew Samet, immediate past-Deputy Under Secretary of Labor International Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.

"A Kind of Childhood: Idris in Dhaka" -- 10-minute trailer for a television documentary about working children in Bangladesh
Filmmaker: Susan Bissell, honorary scholar, Key Center for Women's Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia

A Documentary -- a 10-minute trailer for a television documentary about child1 labor around the world.
Filmmaker: Pharis Harvey, International Labor Rights Fund, Washington, DC

*****************

Friday, February 9
DAY TWO -- Education and Child Labor
Bechtel Conference Center, Stanford University

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
9 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Globalization Meets Education
Moderator: Amb. Thomas Simons, Dept. of History, Stanford University
Introductory presenter: Ruby Noble -- Unicef, Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances Project, Bangladesh
Discussants: Simon Baker, Population Council, Bangkok, Thailand

Discussion from floor

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Implementing Education for Working Children
Moderator: Karen Mundy, Dept. of Education, Stanford University
Introductory presenters: Savitri Suwansathit, Inspector-General of Ministry of Education, Thailand and Harry Patrinos, The World Bank
Discussant: David Post, Prof. of Education; Chair, Committee on Comparative and International Education, Pennsylvania State University;

LUNCH
12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
1:15 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
(10 mins presentation, followed by discussion)

Educating Working Children for Citizenship
Moderator: Anjini Kochar, Dept. of Economics, Stanford University
Introductory presenters: Nandana Reddy, Concerned for Working Children, Karnataka, India, and Praveen Kumar, Bhima Sangha, children's union, Karnataka, India
Discussant: Inderjit Khurana, Ruchika Social Service Organization, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India

BREAK
3:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

SUMMATION AND FINAL DISCUSSION
3:45 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.

Actors and Their Roles: Where From Here?
Discussion leader: Amb. Thomas Simons, Dept. of History, Stanford University

CLOSING AND THANKS

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