IPEC Intern: trade and child labour

INTRODUCTION IPEC, a programme of the International Labour Organization is operational in over 80 countries worldwide and supported by more than 20 donors. Its long-term objective is the effective abolition of child labour. In the short and medium term, the programme aims at assisting member States in designing and implementing policies and programmes which would help them deal with the worst forms of child labour. IPEC also aims at heightening the awareness of member States and the international community on the problem of child labour and assists them in implementing the relevant international labour conventions. IPEC is implemented largely through national, sub regional and regional programmes which include activities such as technical advisory services; direct action for the withdrawal, prevention and protection of working children; institution building; training, advocacy and the collection of and dissemination of information.

Description of Duties The global financial and economic crisis has highlighted the fact that globally, inequalities continue to grow. The 2008 World of Work Report showed that income inequalities grew in two thirds of the countries for which data exist. This has been a key facilitating factor for the financial crisis: faced with the prospect of stagnating relative incomes, and in the face of irresponsible lending practices, low-income households had growing recourse to debt in order to fund their investment plans. This trend might provide a major part of the reason why ILO data shows that world-wide, the reduction in the incidence of child labour is slowing down. The ILO's main repose to this trend was the Global Jobs Pact (GJP, 2009). The GJP goes far beyond designing policies to encourage a speedy recovery. It sets a framework for shaping a fair and sustainable globalization. This returns the role of international trade in development to the agenda. While the discussion of the 90s around "the social clause" in the framework of the WTO has permanently stalled, reference to labour standards, including child labour, has become more and more frequent in bilateral trade agreements. The 2009 World of Work Report examines, as a first step into the analysis, how existing international trade agreements address social issues (Chapter 3). The finding is that over 30 per cent of bilateral or regional trade agreements concluded since 2005 embody labour provisions, compared with only 4 such agreements in 1995. Further research is needed to assess whether such provisions are effective vis-à-vis the goal of making globalization fairer. While only a small percentage of the goods and services produced by children cross borders, these clauses are nevertheless important as the next step in the discussion is how the signatories to these trade arrangements aim to implement the labour and social elements of the agreements. The trend shown in the 2009 report is that positive measures are much preferred to penalties. Such positive measures can include technical cooperation to build systems and capacities to reach the goals. The funding for a Time-Bound Programme to eliminate worst forms of child labour (TBP) in Costa Rica was directly linked to the Canada - Costa Rica free trade agreement. The aim of the present research is to start from the 2009 World of Work Report and other ILO analysis such as on the EU's Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), to explore where relevant clauses exist or are likely to appear, and how these clauses could be linked to opportunities for funding of child labour or broader Decent Work initiatives. The intern will assist IPEC in the research on the effects of existing international trade agreements on social issues, including child labour and youth employment. The intern will: - select and summarise background information. - undertake research and draft a report on specific section on the above research. - review existing literature and draft fact sheet.

Required Qualifications

Education Master degree in Economics or related fields.

Experience Any working/voluntary experience in related field would be an advantage.

Languages Working knowledge of English with excellent writing skills. Knowledge of Spanish would be an advantage.

Competencies - Research skills. - Ability to work in a multicultural environment.

Additional Information: - Applicants for internships can be of any nationality. - An intern should not be a close relateive of a serving ILO official. - Applicants should indicate the proposed dates of internship. - Please note that due to the large number of applicants, we are not in a position to reply to each request and only short-listed applicants will be contacted for telephone interview. - Interns based at headquarters in Geneva without any external source of funding will receive CHF1,850 per month as a stipend. Thank you very much for your interest in the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.

APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY IF SELECTED FOR AN INTERVIEW.

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application form. To apply, please visit ILO's e-Recruitment website at: erecruit.ilo.org. The system provides instructions for online application procedures.

The ILO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process whether at the application, interview, processing or training stage. Messages originating from a non ILO e-mail account - @ilo.org - should be disregarded. In addition, the ILO does not require or need to know any information relating to the bank account details of applicants. Depending on the location and availability of candidates, assessors and interview panel members, the ILO may use communication technologies such as Skype, Video or teleconference, e-mail, etc for the assessment and evaluation of candidates at the different stages of the recruitment process, including assessment centres, technical tests or interviews.

IPEC Intern: trade and child labour