The term “child labor” defined Work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children. and/or interfere with their schooling. Although the classification is not uniform and varies from country to country, UNICEF standard indicators include: Continue:
- Ages 5-11: At least 1 hour of economic activity or 21 hours of free domestic services per week.
- Ages 12-14: 14 hours or more of economic activity or 21 hours of free domestic services per week.
- 15-17 years old: 43 hours or more of economic activity per week.
Among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are calls to end child labor by 2025, followed by all forms of forced labor and human trafficking by 2030. Eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, ensure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and end all forms of child labor by 2025. Let ” Despite this general agreement, the global goal of abolishing child labor seems unlikely to be achieved within the set timeframe.
By 2020, nearly 160 million children (almost 1 in 10) will be child labourBreaking down this number gives us a better understanding of the scope of the problem.
- 69 million children work in hazardous environments that threaten their health, safety and morality
- 67 million girls (7.8% of all girls), 93 million boys (11.2% of all boys)
- Seven million of these working children are in rural areas (13.9% of rural children compared with 4.7% of urban children).
- One in four children aged 5 to 11 in child labor is out of school.
- UNICEF estimates that 25% of children in the poorest countries have an obligation to: “It’s harmful to their health and development.”
- Since 2016, there has been no progress in child labor rates worldwide. So from 2016 to 2020, he added 8 million more children into the workforce. This increase mostly includes her ages 5-11.
- While Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific have seen improvements, child labor in sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise, and the region now employs more children than the rest of the world combined. Are working.
There are various types depending on the region, but the maximum Children are involved in 26% of exports from East and Southeast Asia.
Many multinational companies turn a blind eye to this problem. The International Labor Office 400 items Items produced by child labor or forced labor, such as clothing, agricultural products, building materials, and precious metals. This includes many large technology companies that utilize mined cobalt that violates workers’ human rights, including the use of child labor. Despite agreeing to address child labor in their supply chains more than a decade ago, major chocolate companies have failed to eradicate the practice.
The nature of child labor and the fact that it is more prevalent in upstream production activities has previously made it difficult to track and audit. With the advent of blockchain and other methodologies, it has become easier and more cost-effective to monitor supply chains to track goods and services, inventory levels, raw materials, demand and supply trends, production schedules, and delivery schedules. It became something. These methodologies can also monitor supply chain labor practices.
The world’s largest corporations have the power to reverse this trend and ultimately end this form of child exploitation. ESG ranking and rating providers include his SDGs in their metrics. Companies risk lower ESG scores by continuing to allow child labor within their supply chains. The negative financial impact of low ESG scores on earnings, stock price, and cost of doing business far outweighs the short-term costs of eliminating child labor in your supply chain.
Companies have an obligation to their shareholders and to society at large to eradicate child labor. We can proactively address this issue by paying special attention to products in our supply chain from specific regions of the world and/or from specific industries. Stakeholders around the world can also help by advocating for effective legislation. Promote support systems to alleviate multifaceted poverty (schooling, child care, informal and discrimination). Adopt measures for responsible business conduct to ensure due diligence when tracking child labor in supply chains.
