Statement by UNICEF to the Committee on Maternity Protection International Labour Conference
88th Session, Geneva, 30 May to 15 June 2000
At last year's discussion before the Committee on Maternity Protection, UNICEF highlighted the significant advances in scientific knowledge on the needs of women and their children during the first months of life.
Reference was made to Report V(1), Maternity protection at work, which states that "(t)he promotion of breast-feeding has become a part of national health policy for compelling medical reasons" and that "(e)xclusive breast-feeding can contribute to significantly reducing the incidence, severity and duration
of common illnesses among newborns, in particular upper respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infection and otitis media." Worldwide, reduction of artificial feeding and improved breastfeeding practices could save an estimated 1.5 million children a year. It would also lower mothers'lifetime risks of breast and ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.
UNICEF also took the opportunity last year to point out that women have a right to breastfeed their children, and that breastfeeding is an essential component in assuring the child's right to the highest attainable standard of health. This latter aspect is enshrined in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is binding on all governments in the world with the exception of the USA and Somalia. This means that governments are under an obligation to ensure an environment that empowers women to breastfeed their children if they choose to do so. Working women do not lose the right to this enabling environment because they are in paid employment.
UNICEF thus in 1999 expressed its disappointment that the renegotiation of the MPC was not being seized as an opportunity to increase the protection of working mothers, and indeed, as far as the right to nursing breaks was concerned, there was an attempt to take away a right that women had enjoyed since 1919. Thankfully the heated debate around this issue last year resulted in the reintroduction of the right to nursing breaks in the proposed Convention.
In the coming days the proposed Convention and Recommendation will be discussed and agreed upon by the Committee. The final instruments will influence the way the rights of working mothers are respected or denied around the world for many years to come. The Secretary General has reminded us that human rights lie at the heart of all that the United Nations aspires to achieve. We must thus ensure that the Convention and the Recommendation protect, respect, facilitate and fulfill the rights of children and women. These instruments must recognise the fundamental contribution of women to the welfare of the family and to the development of society. They must recognise the social significance of maternity and the fact that the upbringing of children requires a sharing of responsibility between men and women and society as a whole. To achieve this, UNICEF believes that the instruments should thus provide for the following rights:
The Proposed Convention should provide for:
1. Sixteen weeks of paid maternity leave. This is a revision of Article 3, Report IV (2B), which provides for maternity leave of not less than 12 weeks.
2. Two half-hour remunerated breastfeeding breaks for up to one year, a revision of Article 9, Report IV (2B), which provides for only one or more daily breaks without mention of duration of breaks or entitlement.
3. A safe, clean and private space for breastfeeding or expression of breastmilk at the workplace. This is a revision and movement to the Convention of point 10 in the draft R, Report IV (2B).
The ILO Maternity Protection Recommendation 2000 must provide:
1. At least six months paid maternity leave after birth. This is a revision
of point 1(1) in the draft Recommendation, Report IV (2B), which provides
for 16 weeks.
2. One half-hour breastfeeding break for working mothers of young children between the ages of one and two years. This is a new recommendation which
UNICEF feels is important given the recommended duration of continued breastfeeding (2 years or beyond).
UNICEF believes that the adoption of these provisions will be a major step towards the realization of every woman's right to breastfeed her children and
of the child's right to the highest attainable standard of health. The adoption and implementation of these provisions will have a significant effect on mother and child health in every country around the world, and will send a clear message that as in all other areas of United Nations activity, in the field of labour issues, human rights take precedence.
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