A ROUND TABLE MEETING IN SAINT PETERSBURG EMPLOYERS AND CHILD LABOUR
26 September 2002
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According to the Global Compact, launched at the UN Headquarters in July 2000, business leaders have new opportunities to build partnerships with the UN agencies, in particular, with the International Labour Organization. On the 19th of April the ILO Moscow Office held the first of a series of breakfasts with employers that are organized around one of the 4 ILO principles of the Global Compact. The effective abolition of child labour was discussed at the first one.
In order to further promote this initiative St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, the Vice Chairman’s Office, and the ILO Moscow Office jointly organized a Round Table meeting with Saint Petersburg entrepreneurs on September 26 in Mariinsky Palace.
The Russian Federation is going to ratify the ILO Convention #182 this year – a tool to combat the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The Convention targets child slavery, forced labour, trafficking, debt bondage, serfdom, prostitution, pornography and various forms of hazardous and exploitative work. It calls for immediate and effective measures to secure their prohibition and elimination as a matter of urgency. Immediate and effective action means more than just writing new laws. It includes effective enforcement, providing and applying penal or other sanctions, establishing monitoring mechanisms and engaging in international cooperation.
One of the advantages of the ILO tripartite structure is that it can reach beyond governments to key actors in the economic process. In the light of the Russia’s plans to ratify the Convention #182 the role and responsibility of the employers regarding child labour are becoming more evident. At the same time a lot of employers are still poorly informed about the subject and do not realize the seriousness of the problem. Thus the Round Table had several objectives:
To raise the awareness of Saint Petersburg business circles on the problem of child labour and brief them on the ILO Convention #182;
To stimulate employers’ active involvement in the implementation of the St. Petersburg Tripartite Agreement, which for the first time in Russia includes provisions against child labour
To brief the employers on the “Codes of Conduct” (codes of ethics) concept, which is a very new initiative in Russia – representatives of the Shell company shared their experience on the Shell Code of Conduct, which could become a role model for Saint Petersburg entrepreneurs
To initiate drafting of St. Petersburg Bill on the elimination of child labour, which is also one of the provisions of the Tripartite Agreement of Saint Petersburg
Discussions centered around the Tripartite Agreement between the city administration, the Trade Union Federation and the Employers’ Organization of Saint Petersburg that was signed on February 4 2002. However the employers are not yet active in this process partly due to weakly developed system of interaction between the social partners.
In order to further promote this initiative St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, the Vice Chairman’s Office, and the ILO Moscow Office jointly organized a Round Table meeting with Saint Petersburg entrepreneurs on September 26 in Mariinsky Palace.
The Russian Federation is going to ratify the ILO Convention #182 this year – a tool to combat the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The Convention targets child slavery, forced labour, trafficking, debt bondage, serfdom, prostitution, pornography and various forms of hazardous and exploitative work. It calls for immediate and effective measures to secure their prohibition and elimination as a matter of urgency. Immediate and effective action means more than just writing new laws. It includes effective enforcement, providing and applying penal or other sanctions, establishing monitoring mechanisms and engaging in international cooperation.
One of the advantages of the ILO tripartite structure is that it can reach beyond governments to key actors in the economic process. In the light of the Russia’s plans to ratify the Convention #182 the role and responsibility of the employers regarding child labour are becoming more evident. At the same time a lot of employers are still poorly informed about the subject and do not realize the seriousness of the problem. Thus the Round Table had several objectives:
To raise the awareness of Saint Petersburg business circles on the problem of child labour and brief them on the ILO Convention #182;
To stimulate employers’ active involvement in the implementation of the St. Petersburg Tripartite Agreement, which for the first time in Russia includes provisions against child labour
To brief the employers on the “Codes of Conduct” (codes of ethics) concept, which is a very new initiative in Russia – representatives of the Shell company shared their experience on the Shell Code of Conduct, which could become a role model for Saint Petersburg entrepreneurs
To initiate drafting of St. Petersburg Bill on the elimination of child labour, which is also one of the provisions of the Tripartite Agreement of Saint Petersburg
Discussions centered around the Tripartite Agreement between the city administration, the Trade Union Federation and the Employers’ Organization of Saint Petersburg that was signed on February 4 2002. However the employers are not yet active in this process partly due to weakly developed system of interaction between the social partners.