Child Labour in Supply Chains – A Call for Urgent Action by Stakeholders

Making Child Rights and Business Principles (CRBP) a Reality: Creating Child-Labour Free Supply Chains

Centre for Responsible Business' (CRB) annual flagship conference ‘India and Sustainability Standards (ISS): International Dialogues and Conference’ convened international and Indian businesses, policymakers and all stakeholders to dialogue and develop roadmaps across issues and industry sectors – in supporting the momentum towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On day two of the 3-day summit, plenary partner Save the Children hosted an imperative dialogue to address the issue of Child Labour in apparel supply chains.

Co-hosted by UNICEF, the plenary session on Making Child Rights and Business Principles (CRBP) a Reality: Creating Child-Labour Free Supply Chains, was moderated by Anindit Roy Chowdhury, Chief of Programmes, Save the Children India and had esteemed guests like Viraf Mehta, Senior Advisor & Member of the National Voluntary Guidelines for the Economic, Social and Environmental Responsibilities of Business (NVGs) for Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, Ranjeeb Sarma, Head of Compliance, CSR and Plan, Marks and Spencer India, Manoj Bhatt, CEO- Tri-Impact, Geetanjali Master, Partnerships Specialist, UNICEF, Ariz Khan - Child Participant (earlier employed in a garment supply chain in New Delhi) and Sandra Claassen – Director, ARISA – Advocating Rights in South Asia.

The aim of this conference is to advance the best business practices while acknowledging the enormous benefits received by the organizations in the past. Developed by Save the Children, UNICEF, and the UN Global Compact– the Children’s Rights and Business Principles laid out 10 principles to guide companies on the full range of actions they can take in the workplace, marketplace, and community to respect and support children’s rights. However, despite decades of efforts and numerous initiatives to improve labor practices in apparel supply chains, child rights violations (in form of child labour) continue to be rampant in low-cost countries. Increasing pressure from advocacy groups, financial analysts, and the media to address such incidents has led brands, NGOs, and third-party certification bodies to develop a plethora of diverse auditing programs that vary in terms of goals, scope, and commitment.

Introducing Child Rights & Business Principles, Anindit Roy Chowdhury, Chief Programme Officer, Save the Children, India said, “This year is the 10th year anniversary of Child Rights and Business Principles that was created by Save the Children, UNICEF and UN Global Compact (UNGC), but commemorating it is not going to be enough. We need to create functional and equitable collaboratives between businesses, civil society organisations, governments, and children themselves, that promote business practices that value and ensure child rights. It is critical that we all work in partnership in addressing the various nuances of child rights in business supply chains and processes. Also, businesses cannot be looked at as the source of the problem, and therefore making them responsible through dialogue, capacity development and collaboration is the critical way forward.”

Discussions revolved around the objective of making businesses aware and educating them on policies that must be implemented even in the supply chain to abolish child labour practices. With over 160 million children in labour globally, 10.1 million (4.5 million are girls) in India alone. The latest report by National Crime Records Bureau presents one much monumental challenge, which showed 1, 49,404 cases of crime against children last year, a whopping 16% rise, of which 982 cases were registered as formal complaints under the Child Labour Act. Thousands of children are still working silently in hazardous processes due to the burden of inter-generational poverty and acceptance of child labour practice in the community. Despite decades of efforts and numerous initiatives to improve labor practices in apparel supply chains, worker rights violations continue to be rampant in low-cost countries. Increasing pressure from advocacy groups, financial analysts, and the media to address such incidents has led Western brands, NGOs, and third-party certification bodies to develop a plethora of diverse auditing programs that vary in terms of goals, scope, and commitment.

Adding to the dynamics of partnership Viraf Mehta, Senior Advisor CRB, B&HR Expert “Partnership is just not an association, it implies collaboration in which we have a common goal and have shared risks and responsibilities. When you bring businesses and CSOs, there is an assumption that we are working on a rights-based mechanism. The Human rights approach is not about charity, it is about entitlement as a person and that they are actionable and justiciable.”

Geetanjali Master, Partnership Specialist, UNICEF added “How do we as business move towards creating more gender-equal advertising and marketing because those will impact norms in society and when society has more positive norms they’ll be far more sensistive to realizing human and child rights and this partnership obviously when went to the space of creating gender guidelines, self-accessible tools by advertisers and marketers, awards, there also businesses then realising through the journey that there is a lot taking to under CRBP, in the street, and it got demystified for them, they actually start moving towards it and then there is evidence and documentation.”

The esteemed panel recommended the following points to eliminate child labour – 

• Fulfil their responsibility to uphold the rights of children and make a commitment to respect the human rights of children
• Contribute to the abolition of child labour in all commercial endeavors and contractual arrangements
• Give young employees, parents, and caregivers respectable employment
• In all corporate activities and facilities, ensure that children are protected and kept safe.
• Ensure the safety of the goods and services, and strive to uphold the rights of children by using them.
• Utilize marketing and promotion that upholds and supports the rights of children.
• When it comes to environmental protection, property acquisition, and land usage, respect, and support children's rights.
• Children's rights under security arrangements should be respected and supported.
• Ensure the safety of children impacted by emergencies.
• Bolster efforts made by the community and the government to uphold and defend children's rights

Children are among the most marginalized and vulnerable members of society. They are rarely given a voice in community development and decision-making, even the ones that impact them directly. However, when given the chance to participate, they can offer crucial alternate ideas and make critical contributions. There are numerous ways in which business operations affect children, either directly or indirectly. This comprises their general business operations, such as their goods and services, marketing strategies, and distribution procedures, as well as their interactions with the federal, state, and local governments and their investments in local communities. It is about time to change our mindsets that rather than getting the work done by the children, working for the children is the long-term investment that creates well-educated communities that play a key role in creating an inclusive and sustainable business environment.

About C4RB

Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) was established in 2011 as a think-tank to pursue its vision, ‘businesses integrate sustainability into their core business practices. Given that sustainability is a multi-dimensional problem, especially in the context of India and other emerging economies, CRB has adopted a model of engaging multiple stakeholders to develop action plans for promoting sustainable/responsible business, across various sectors in India.

About Save the Children India

Save the Children works across 18 states of India and in 120 countries, on issues related to education, health, protection and humanitarian/DRR needs of children, especially for those who are the most deprived and marginalized. Save the Children's association with India is more than 80 years old. Visit www.savethechildren.in for more information.

The LEGO Group Collaborates with Save the Children and NITI Aayog to Support Children Impacted by COVID-19 in India

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown has had a particularly adverse effect on children, impacting their mental, physical and psycho-social well-being. The LEGO Group, the world's leading toy brand, in collaboration with two highly reputed organisations, NITI Aayog and Save the Children, has introduced targeted initiatives in India to promote 'Learning Through Play' and support home-based learning during these unprecedented times, while strengthening community efforts to respond to COVID-19. This is part of the LEGO Group and LEGO Foundation's overall commitment of US $50 million globally to help children and their families impacted by COVID-19.

The LEGO Group has aligned with Save the Children to promote responsive care-giving and play based learning practices for children aged 3-8 years both at state and national levels. This effort will help in strengthening communities to combat COVID-19 by providing educational kits and play materials for use at home as well as guiding parents and caregivers on hygiene and responsive caregiving. The initiative will also improve access to quality pre-school education through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and pre-school Centres when they re-open. It will focus on building capacity of pre-school Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), Anganwadi Helpers (AWHs) and ICDS functionaries to support the development and school readiness of young children.

In addition, synergizing efforts, The LEGO Group will bring its global initiative 'Let's Build Together' to India. As a part of its collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, the LEGO Group will provide readily available offline, online resources and play activities for students that foster creativity skills and inculcate design thinking. The LEGO Group will also explore training webinars to build capacities for ATL teachers to conduct effective online lessons for students and also webinars for students under AIMs Tinker from Home campaign.

Commenting on the collaboration, Vivek Jain, General Manager, The LEGO Group (BU India) said, "With schools being closed, the education of more than 1.5 billion children and youth worldwide has been affected due to this pandemic. Currently, many educators and parents are stepping into new roles at home to ensure that children are in good health both physically and mentally. Our aim is to urgently support crisis-affected children to enable them to thrive and continue to learn through play. Through our 'Let's Build Together' initiative with Niti Aayog and our collaboration with Save the Children, our focus is ensuring that children of all ages can continue to be creative, to have fun and to develop the social, emotional and physical skills they need to thrive in the future."

Commenting on the collaboration, Bidisha Pillai, CEO, Save the Children, India, said, "Save the Children is delighted to partner with the LEGO Group to promote early childhood development for children aged 3 - 8 years, by enhancing their skills through playful learning experiences. We firmly believe that play based learning and positive parenting lays the foundation for providing children with the 'Right Start'. In order to overcome the effects of COVID-19 crisis, we will start by supporting parents and caregivers with advice on caregiving at home, including providing home based learning opportunities that will ensure children's social, emotional and physical development. Save the Children and the LEGO Group share a common focus and together we will create a better, brighter world for children."

About the LEGO Group

The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in Enfield, USA, London, UK., Shanghai, China, and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO brick, it is one of the worlds leading manufacturers of play materials. Guided by the company spirit: "Only the best is good enough", the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com. LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, and the brick and knob configuration are trademarks of The LEGO Group. 2017 the LEGO Group.