Harnessing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to address Child Labour

26 April 2023 – Representatives from the African Union Commission (AUC), Governments, Embassies, Employers’ Organizations, Workers’ Organizations, business associations, private sector companies, NGOs, and UN organizations attended the AUC-ILO jointly organized Forum on Child Labour that was held virtually on 26 April 2023.

The Forum, that hosted thirty AU’s member states from the different sub-regions in Africa, had as main objective to support the implementation of the African Union’s “Ten Year Action Plan to Eradicate Child Labour, Forced Labour, Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery (2020-2030)”, by promoting a continental multi-stakeholder dialogue on child labour elimination in supply chains.

Taking into consideration both the corporate responsibility to respect and the state duty to protect human rights, the Forum represented an opportunity to share knowledge, challenges, best practices, and innovative mechanisms to tackle the root causes of child labour and foster the respect of children’s rights in supply chains, by strengthening the roles and responsibilities of social dialogue institutions.

Keynote speeches addressed by the ILO, the AUC and the Government of the Netherlands emphasized the importance of intensified multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral and rights-based action to scale up efforts in order to accelerate the achievement of the SDG Target 8.7 of ending child labour in all its forms by 2025.

As reiterated by Mr. Alexio Musindo on behalf of Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, statistics show that with 92 million girls and boys in child labour and 85-88% of child labour mainly found in domestic supply chains , Africa is currently the most-affected region in the world. He therefore underlined the responsibility for both public and private sector actors in Africa to promote the respect of human rights and the fundamental principles and rights at work. “We must recognize the importance to adopt a human-centred approach to develop and implement innovative collaboration models to tackle child labour in supply chains and foster human rights due diligence.”

On this note, H.E. Henk Jan Bakker, the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ethiopia and the African Union, highlighted as essential condition for the elimination of child labour the responsible engagement and partnership with production countries, producers, and stakeholders. He also stressed that the European Union due diligence legislation will require child labour-free supply chains and that countries that are front-runners in tackling child labour will be better positioned to trade on the EU market. “The Netherlands wishes to support stakeholders in production countries to be better positioned for the EU market and welcomes experience sharing as it can inform due diligence measures, legislation and other accompanying measures.”

Mr. Sabelo Mbokazi addressed the audience on behalf of H.E. Amb Minata Cessouma Samate, Commissioner of the Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development (HHS), African Union Commission, highlighting how child labour violates children’s rights, including the right to safety, education and the right to play, underling root causes such as poverty, socioeconomic vulnerabilities, lack of decent work and inadequate social protection systems. He emphasized the obligation of the member states to uphold international, human and labour rights, acknowledging that lasting changes in supply chains require concerted multi-party efforts – from government, workers’ and employers’ organizations, and the private sector. “The African Union is committed to provide impeccable leadership, guidance and frameworks for enhancing strategic continental coherence, cooperation and coordination in the support of eliminating child labour in Africa.”

Tripartite constituents discussed specific challenges, opportunities and responsibilities on tackling root causes of child labour on the basis laid by the Durban Call to Action on the Elimination of Child Labour agreed upon by the delegates of the 5th Global Conference on Child Labour in May 2022 in South Africa. Both the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa's organised labour reiterated their commitment to play a key role in the fight against child labour. The IOE reaffirmed its commitment to promoting better business practices, engaging with governments and workers to strengthen national institutions, as well as engaging in relevant global initiatives such as the Alliance 8.7 and the Child Labour Platform (CLP). ITUC-Africa also expressed its commitment to monitor the implementation of the pledges towards the elimination of child labour and mobilize its members to stay active in the Alliance 8.7, the Global March Against Child Labour and National Action Plan (NPA)’s spaces and processes. Similarly, as Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country, Nigeria stated its commitment to comprehensively implement the national roadmap towards the elimination of child labour with a specific focus on migration, supply chains, conflict and humanitarian settings.

The Forum also stressed the importance of promoting synergies between the Business and Human Rights Agenda and the efforts for the elimination of child labour. In this regard, the ILO presented the linkages between international labour standards, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights, pointing out the relevance of integrating NAPs on Child Labour in NAPs on Business and Human Rights and introducing the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration) as a unique ILO instrument that enshrines the corporate responsibility to respect human rights by contributing to economic and social progress and the realization of decent work for all, including the elimination of child labour and its root causes through a holistic approach. A rights-based approach was also presented as one of the key guiding principles of the AUC Ten Year Action Plan to Eradicate Child Labour, Forced Labour, Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery (2020-2030) that focuses on a number of key strategic intervention areas among which advocacy, capacity building, legislation enforcement, education and skills training, and multi-stakeholder platform for partnerships.

Taking into consideration the international framework of reference, specific case studies and good practices in the areas of due diligence and responsible business conduct, public-private partnership (PPP), and financial inclusion were discussed, paving the way for a stronger multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination of actions in the fight against child labour in Africa.

In this context, the ILO presented Child Labour Platform (CLP), a global partnership between the ILO and businesses, from all sectors and sizes, to find sustainable solutions to end child labour in supply chains. Through the Country Working Groups (Côte d’Ivoire, India, and DRC), the CLP develops practical solutions to common problems by sharing country-level successes and setbacks, and identifies strategic partners creating a coordinated network of local actors committed to eliminating child labour.

Along with that, the Dutch Fund against Child Labour - FBK was introduced as one of the pillars of the Netherlands agenda to eliminate child labour. The Fund supports companies, and their supply chain partners to investigate whether there is child labour in their supply chain, and to take measures to avoid, mitigate or stop child labour (through local measures and improvement of own company due diligence system). A specific intervention and good practice of promoting VSLA (Village Saving and Loan Association) and awareness raising in Sierra Leone was presented.

The Government of Ghana, as Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country, then discussed the example of Child Labour Free Zones aimed at identifying, creating and maintaining conditions for the elimination of all forms of child labour in a given geographical area, while ensuring to address risks in the main value chains of the zone.

Ulula, a social enterprise aimed at amplifying workers’ and community voices to create more responsible supply chains through inclusive technology options, shared the example of the Kufatilia incident monitoring system, an area-based initiative in Eastern DRC that fosters the identification and remediation of child labour, forced labour and other human rights abuses.

Good practices were finally presented about aligning private sector child labour financing to national priorities. In this regard, the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) discussed the Adopt a School programme aimed at tackling child labour through education. Olam Food Ingredients (Ofi) presented its collaboration with the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM) to foster the extension of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire in the framework of a public-private partnership (PPP), and MobiPay, an agro-technology solutions provider, described its engagement and work in promoting increased access to financial services for member-based organizations through digital platforms as a key driver to eradicate child labour in the tea and coffee supply chains in Uganda.

The contributions shared at the Forum strengthened the discussion and experience sharing among key actors to accelerate progress towards the eradication of child labour in the currently most affected region of the world in the framework of the AUC-ILO collaboration.

As the commitment to shape a future where decent work is promoted in supply chains and children are free from child labour continues, the way forward advocates for the following:

• Institutionalization of the Forum as a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform on child labour elimination in supply chains at the continental level
• Replication, adaption and scaling up of success stories
• Integration of NAPs on Child Labour in NAPs on Business and Human Rights
• Nomination of a 'Special Rapporteur on Child Labour' within the African Union Commission to better coordinate interventions on child labour elimination among members states
• Through continuous multi-stakeholder engagement, support the private sector in AU member states to comply with the EU due diligence legislation requirements