Developing a Child Labor Guidance Tool with the ILO and IOE

The ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) was created in 1992 with the overall goal of the progressive elimination of child labor, which was to be achieved through strengthening the capacity of countries to deal with the problem and promoting a worldwide movement to combat child labor. ILO-IPEC is the largest program of its kind globally and the biggest single operational program of the ILO.  

Since its creation in 1920, the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) has been recognized as the only organization at the international level that represents the interests of business in the labor and social policy fields. Today, it consists of national employer organizations from over 140 countries from all over the world. 

This joint project of ILO-IPEC and the IOE seeks to develop a "Child Labor Guidance Tool" that will provide guidance on how companies can avoid child labor and contribute to child labor remediation, whether in their own operations or in their supply chains, through appropriate policies, due diligence and remediation processes that are aligned with ILO Conventions on child labor, and the UN "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. 

In the first stage (late 2011-mid 2012), Shift will develop a protocol for, and conduct assessments of, an initial group of companies. The assessments will explore alignment with the key elements of the corporate responsibility to respect in relation to the prohibition of child labor, resulting in a confidential report for ILO-IPEC and the IOE identifying common trends among the companies. Subsequently, the project will organize peer-learning exercises and dialogue with experts to facilitate implementation and integration of child labor concerns into company policies and practices. The project will then seek to develop rigorous, evidence-based good business practices in the area of child labor.

Feedback from Company Participants:

“The ILO-IOE project on business and child labour has provided valuable, cross-functional learning for The Coca-Cola Company on this critical issue.  We have benefited from the expert assessment process, which has led to improvements in our policies and due diligence systems.  TCCC would highly recommend this project to companies interested in developing effective systems to identify, prevent, mitigate, and, if necessary, remediate child labour, all while contributing to the creation of an authoritative global guidance tool.” Ed Potter, Director, Global Workplace Rights, The Coca-Cola Company

“Participation in this project is very important to Vale, because it contributed directly to our process of continuous improvement in the management of human rights.” Adolfo Gonçalves, Labour Relations Manager, Vale