NEWS RELEASES
AXWORTHY TO TRAVEL TO AMSTERDAM AND BONN
February 20, 1997 No. 33
AXWORTHY TO TRAVEL TO AMSTERDAM AND BONN
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy will participate in the Amsterdam Child
Labour Conference on February 26, 1997. While in Amsterdam, he will also meet
with Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van Mierlo, who, as Chair of the European Union
(EU) Council of Ministers, has invited Minister Axworthy and European Commission
Vice President Sir Leon Brittan to a Canada-EU Ministerial Meeting. Mr. Axworthy
will then visit Bonn on February 27 and 28.
The Child Labour Conference has been organized by the Government of the
Netherlands in close co-operation with the International Labour Organization (ILO)
and its International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour. It is part of a
process of working towards the adoption, in 1999, of a new ILO Convention to
eliminate the most hazardous forms of child labour.
"Forms of child labour that deprive children of their right to fully realize their
potential in mental and physical development, and that expose them to hazardous
and dangerous work, contravene a basic human right," said Mr. Axworthy. "That is
why the Government of Canada, in close co-operation with the provinces, employers'
associations and labour organizations, is actively supporting the International
Labour Organization in developing a new convention on child labour."
The Conference will bring together government representatives from over 30
developed and developing countries of Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, as
well as representatives of workers' and employers' organizations, international
organizations and non-governmental organizations, working children and others
concerned and affected by the issue of child labour.
In Amsterdam, Mr. Axworthy will also participate in the first Transatlantic
Declaration Ministerial meeting since the December 17, 1996, signing, in Ottawa,
of the Canada-European Union Political Declaration and Action Plan. This meeting
will focus primarily on the implementation of the Action Plan, which calls for
increased co-operation between Canada and the EU on trade, political, security and
transnational issues, as well as on furthering people-to-people links.
Participants will also discuss major issues such as European security
architecture, EU enlargement and the situation in Cuba, the former Yugoslavia and
the African Great Lakes region, as well as the international challenge of
disarmament -- particularly the elimination of anti-personnel mines.
The last part of Mr. Axworthy's trip includes meetings in Bonn with German Foreign
Minister Dr. Klaus Kinkel and Defence Minister Volker Rühe. The ministers will
exchange information and views on a number of international issues. In addition
to those discussed in Amsterdam, they will cover various NATO issues, including
internal reform, as well as UN Reform and other bilateral matters.
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For further information, media representatives may contact:
Catherine Lappe
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
(613) 995-1851
Media Relations Office
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 995-1874
This document is also available on the Department's Internet site:
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca
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