Forced labour
Online discussion report: Eradicating forced and child labour from the supply chains: How to institute real change?
The AP-Forced Labour Net hosted an online discussion forum on Eradicating Forced and Child Labour from the Supply Chains: How to Institute Real Change? from 1 to 12 September 2014.
The main objectives of the online discussion were to generate and share information on innovative approaches and good practices in addressing forced and child labour in supply chains, and to discuss remaining challenges. Among the AP‐Forced Labour Net discussion participants, there was an overall consensus that the way forward needs to involve multi-stakeholder engagement, long-term commitment to work on remediation, and interventions at the bottom tiers of the supply chains to formalize informal sectors, improve law enforcement and strengthen the voice and bargaining power of workers. Importance of access to education and establishing real alternatives to forced and child labour were also emphasized by several participants. Emergence of industry-wide and area-based interventions was noted as a positive sign for future. These efforts need to be supported by better regulation of contracting practices and labour market intermediaries, and capacity building of factory managers and labour inspectors. Respective roles of different stakeholders in these initiatives were also discussed in length.