INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Iqbal Masih Award Nomination: Ace

Published: Sat 15 Nov 2008 11:02 PM
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O 152302Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8835
INFO RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA PRIORITY 0062
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 8626
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UNCLAS TOKYO 003157
SIPDIS
EILEEN MUIRRAGUI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ILAB PGOV PHUM JP
SUBJECT: IQBAL MASIH AWARD NOMINATION: ACE
REF: STATE 00120132
1. (SBU) Embassy Tokyo nominates ACE (Action against Child
Exploitation), a Japan-based NPO devoted to reducing the
worst forms of child labor worldwide, to receive the "United
States Department of Labor's Iqbal Masih Award for the
Elimination of Child Labor."
2. (SBU) In 1995 Yuka Iwatsuki, following a year as a
university exchange student in the United States, crossed the
border to Tijuana, and was shocked to see children as young
as three and four years old holding paper cups and begging
for money from tourists. The encounter changed her life.
After graduating from Sophia University and getting a Ph.D.
in International Relations from Osaka University, Ms.
Iwatsuki went on to found ACE in 1997 to organize the
Japanese leg of the "Global March Against Child Labor."
3. (SBU) ACE now has more than 200 members. It divides its
child labor reduction activities into four areas: awareness
raising, advocacy, alliance building, and international
cooperation. In each of these areas ACE has established a
model record of effectiveness. Successful projects include
frequent Japanese seminars to teach about the child labor
problem, fund raising events, and the publication in 2007 of
a book in Japanese written by three ACE staff members, "I am
8 Years Old and I Don't Want to Work Anymore." At the 2008
Japan G8 Summit's NGO Forum, ACE drafted the policy
recommendations on child labor.
4. (SBU) In cooperation with its Indian partner BBA (Bachpan
Bachao Andalan) ACE has helped more than 500 children with
its Child Friendly Village program. The two partners are
currently involved in trying to foil human traffickers
targeting children in flood-hit districts of Bihar, India.
Building on its own research, ACE has also begun using
innovative means to educate the Japanese public about the
relationship between chocolate production and exploitative
child labor conditions in Africa. In addition to advocacy
efforts directed at the public, the government, and the
media, ACE is active in educating leading Japanese
corporations about the need to eliminate child labor from
every aspect of their supply chain.
4. (SBU) Organization Name: ACE (Action against Child
Exploitation). Address: 1-20-9401, Higashiueno, Taito-ku,
Tokyo 110-0015 Japan. Phone: 81-3-3835-7555.
SCHIEFFER
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