Vol. 482 No. 6
85 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will distribute the fact sheets on child labour which were published last week by the United Nations Children's Fund to Irish embassies in order that the facts on this issue are available to commercial travellers in the listed countries. [18839/97]
I am not aware of a fact sheet on child labour to which the Deputy referred in his question. My officials have been in contact with representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and have been informed that no specific fact sheet on child labour has been produced in connection with the recent Conference on Child Labour, which was held in Oslo from 27-30 October last.
However, the conference did produce an agenda for action on the issue and follow-up papers are also currently being prepared by UNICEF. The Department of Foreign Affiars will examine those various documents and, in consultation with the Irish national committee for UNICEF, will consider ways in which the issues raised at that conference might be properly addressed. In that regard, I should stress that the Department has a close working relationship with UNICEF, which is represented on the Joint Department of Foreign Affairs/NGO Standing Committee. This committee provides a formal framework for a regular exchange of views on human rights issues between the Department and representatives of the NGO community and enables these issues to be considered in an indepth and systematic fashion.
