A/HRC/18/30 prevent, address and regulate child slavery. Knowledge would allow decision-makers at all levels to make better choices in tackling child slavery in this sector. 82. Lastly, unregulated artisanal mines and quarries pose serious medium- and longterm risks to food security and the environment. They are the cause of rapid deforestation, destruction of landscape, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. Water, soil and air contamination occur as a result of: cyanide and mercury poisoning; direct dumping of tailings and effluents into rivers; river siltation; and river damage in alluvial areas. Children drinking, cooking and washing in contaminated water face immediate and longterm risks to their health. VIII. Best practices eradicating child slavery in the mining and quarrying sector 83. The examples below demonstrate that a multistakeholder approach involving the community, local government, NGOs and United Nations agencies is essential in combating the phenomenon of child slavery in mining and quarrying. 84. ILO is leading a global programme entitled “Minors out of Mining”, which includes at least 15 countries32 and partners from the mining industry such as the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), along with Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM). The aim of the programme is to effectively and efficiently deal with child exploitation in the informal mining and quarrying sector. Projects at the national level are designed to address the root causes and combat child labour in small-scale mining. Governments lead the work with support from workers, donors, employers and communities. ILO has implemented successful projects to stop children working in mines in many countries, such as Mongolia and Philippines,33 which focused on increasing the educational and vocational training opportunities for children. In Philippines, their project also focused on providing alternative livelihood schemes for the parents of children working in the mines.34 85. Another successful ILO example is the programme for the prevention and progressive elimination of child labour in small-scale traditional gold-mining in Latin America, which had regional, national and local components and was aimed at contributing to the elimination of child labour in small-scale mining in the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.35 Successful intervention elements identified included: the establishment or improvement of social services, such as education services for children and health services for all the population; improvement of the technology for mining exploitation and health conditions and job security; giving impetus for microenterprises for mothers/fathers of children that had been working in mining and creation of income-generating alternatives for women; creation and strengthening of grass-roots organizations, and giving impetus to a local development processes with the participation of various actors. 32 33 34 35 18 Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Mali, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Senegal, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania For more examples, see ILO, “Eliminating Child Labour in Mining and Quarrying” (2005). ILO, “Facts on Child Labour in small scale mining”, October 2005. This programme was able withdraw 2,667 children from mining work and to prevent 5,845 children from entering it. It was not able to withdraw all the children from labour because some families in the mining communities were still in very vulnerable economic conditions and refused to withdraw their children despite the programme’s efforts.