DD: When and how did the Music against Child Labour Initiative begin?

SS: The Initiative seeks to engage musicians worldwide in raising public awareness about child labour by dedicating a concert, composition or song and by advocating to help protect socially excluded children from child labour through more and better music education to make schools more attractive and to build children’s confidence and skills.

It was launched on the eve of World Day against Child Labour 2013, at a concert in Paris given by the late Maestro Claudio Abbado and the Mozart Orchestra. Renowned conductors and musicians, music education bodies and musicians’ organizations and trade unions joined Maestro Abbado in signing the Music Initiative Manifesto. The Initiative stems from the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media (SCREAM) programme, which encourages the child participation called for in ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour. It is also inspired by El Sistema, which has shown how music education can change children’s lives.

DD: How serious a problem is child labour worldwide?

SS: Child labour violates children’s fundamental rights by denying girls and boy their right to education and by exposing them to mental, physical and psychological damage, which affects their childhoods and their futures. Hindering access to quality education comes at a high cost to all of society—it reduces young people’s chances of finding decent work when they leave school and so acts as a brake on their country’s economic and social development. ILO estimates that 168 million children around the world are engaged in child labour, 85 million of them in hazardous work. Most are performing unpaid work on family farms. Many are in the hard to tackle worst forms of child labour, for example children trafficked for child labour in domestic work, commercial sexual exploitation or as child soldiers, or engaged in illicit activities such as drug trafficking and organized begging.

DD: Is the battle against child labour being won?

SS: A world without child labour is possible. Many countries have already eliminated all or most child labour, some a century ago. Child labour has declined by one third since 2000 and since 2008 the pace of progress has accelerated. We know what works: child labour can be tackled through legislation and enforcement, universal education and social protection and by the promotion—by governments, good employers and strong trade unions—of decent work for all adults and youth, women and men. While the main responsibility lies with governments, eliminating child labour requires a unity of efforts on all fronts, and children and youth also have a key role to play.

DD: How can people become involved in the Music Initiative?

SS: Musicians of all ages, skill and genres can dedicate a song or other composition to the Initiative, or can dedicate a concert simply by explaining the Initiative’s key purpose to their audience. We post all dedicated songs, concert flyers and other information received on our campaign page. Even those who don’t compose, play or sing can take part by mobilizing musicians in their country or by encouraging music events in their communities to link to the campaign. All the key information and material is on the Music Initiative campaign page.

DD: What have the highlights of the campaign been?

SS: The main highlights of the campaign so far have been the first concert in the global series given by the Heliópolis (Youth) Orchestra, at the opening of the Global Child Labour Conference in Brasilia, Brazil, in 2013, and the many concerts on and around the World Day against Child Labour 2014. Numerous songs have been dedicated to the cause, including an anthem against child labour by Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize co-winner and President of the Global March against Child Labour, and Punjabi rock singer and actor Jasbir Jassi. In Côte d’Ivoire, a choir against child labour composed and dedicated two fusion music videos. In Spain, soprano Pilar Jurado has dedicated numerous concerts and a lullaby “to sing to sleep a child that never rests.” Since 2013, the Italian Ministry of Education has held national competitions for schools in support of the initiative and numerous partners have organized concerts around the Today Festival. Later this year, work will begin on a new SCREAM Special Module to reinforce the music education component of the campaign.