Supporting Children's Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media (SCREAM)

The aims of SCREAM are to:

• Raise awareness about the plight of child labour among students, educators, political leaders, civil society organisations, and communities
• Empower young people to take an active role in society and in fighting child labour
• Offer a practical tool that supports children's rights and provides young people with tools of self-expression, thereby hopefully promoting their personal and social development.

In order to achieve these aims, SCREAM has developed a community-based education and social mobilisation Education Pack that uses visuals, the performing arts, and the media to help educators worldwide promote a better understanding and awareness among young people about child labour. With the help of this education pack, the programme is implemented in formal and non-formal education settings, in collaboration with other United Nations agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), theatre groups, local artists, academic institutions and, in particular, with the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

The education pack aims to introduce young people to the complexities surrounding the issue of child labour and to help them to channel their creative energies in a positive and constructive way to develop appropriate responses. Specifically, through its modules on drama and role play, the SCREAM education pack aims to promote the performing arts as a means for young people to explore their feelings, give expression to them, and convey their message to the wider community. The campaign believes that in order to truly understand the daily horror of working children, people must be moved at the most fundamental human level. With the help and guidance of educators and others in the community, young people are meant to gain the skills and confidence to create and perform their own piece of theatre appropriate to their cultural and social setting and in their own languages and dialects.

IPEC also hopes to integrate higher education institutions into SCREAM activities. The rationale behind this collaboration is that, according to organisers, students and teachers in related courses such as teacher training, media and journalism, human rights and development education, social studies, and social anthropology have an important role to play in bringing their unique perspective and skills to bear on the central aim of SCREAM: to impact upon the behaviour and fabric of society.

As of this writing, SCREAM has been active in over 60 countries, both industrialised and developing, and the Education Pack is now available in 19 languages. As the SCREAM programme evolves, additional, complementary modules are being created. In 2007, "SCREAM: A Special Module on HIV, AIDS and Child Labour" was launched. This resource is a companion module to the original Education Pack. It is intended for use by educators and team leaders to inform young people about HIV and AIDS, and includes participatory activities designed to increase awareness and understanding of related health, family, and child labour issues.

With time, the initiative hopes to build a worldwide social movement dedicated to giving working children back their right to a childhood.

Children, Rights.

Child labour is about the exploitation of the most vulnerable in our society - children. According to the latest estimates of the ILO, there are just over 245 million children below the age of 18 working in the world. Approximately 180 million of them work in the worst forms of child labour, toiling in hazardous and life-threatening conditions. Many are deprived of an education and suffer physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Some will be physically handicapped or even die before reaching adulthood as a direct result of their labour. Others will be emotionally scarred for life. For many, child labour is an invisible phenomenon because children work in hidden occupations, such as domestic work and prostitution, or invisible because society is turning a blind eye.

SCREAM believes that young people can play an important role in raising awareness of social justice and influencing their communities to bring about social change. By empowering young people, giving them responsibility, and recognising the value of their contribution, ILO contends that their creativity and commitment can be directed in the fight to end child labour.

IPEC is a special programme of the ILO, the United Nations agency for the world of work and the promotion of social justice. It works towards the elimination of child labour by strengthening national capacities to address child labour problems, and by contributing to the worldwide movement to combat them.