ILO
Director-General Guy Ryder has called for a whole-of-supply-chain approach to
address child labour in global supply chains during his opening statement to
the conference . He said that efforts against child labour in
global supply chains will be inadequate if they do not extend beyond immediate
suppliers and include those involved in the extraction and production of raw
materials.
He also urged governments to address the root causes of child labour in global
supply chains, such as poverty, informality and insufficient access to
education.
“Today, 152 million children are still in child labour. The need to accelerate
progress is obvious,” said Ryder. “The UN resolution declaring 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of
Child Labour is a tremendous opportunity to keep the momentum, and to
accelerate action towards the achievement of zero child labour, in all its
forms, by 2025.”
Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation,
announced that the Netherlands will become a pathfinder country of Alliance 8.7
– the first EU Member State to do do.
The Alliance 8.7 partnership brings together 225 partner organizations which are committed
to collaborate to achieve Target 8.7 of the 2030 Sustainable Development
Goals , which
calls on governments around the world to end child labour by 2025 and to put in
place effective measures to end forced labour, modern slavery and human
trafficking by 2030. Pathfinder countries commit to go further and faster to
achieve Target 8.7. They implement new actions, try new approaches and share
their knowledge. With this announcement by the Netherlands, 20 countries have
so far committed to accelerate their efforts as Alliance 8.7 pathfinder
countries.
A recent report compiled by the ILO, OECD, IOM and UNICEF, Ending child labour, forced labour
and human trafficking in global supply chains , provides the first-ever estimates
of child labour in global supply chains. The study indicates that the link
between child labour and global supply chains is often indirect. A significant
share of child labour in global supply chains occurs in their lower tiers, in
activities such as raw material extraction and agriculture, making due
diligence, visibility and traceability challenging.