Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Base Code Guidance:
Child Labour1

Lead author: Mike Dottridge
Commissioning editor: Cindy Berman
With thanks to Luca Ponzetta and to advisory panel members Save the Children, Marshalls, Homeworkers
Worldwide, ITUC and Unicef.
Photos: ILO, ETI, ICIBase code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

3

1. Introduction

4

1.1 What is child labour?

5

1.2 Child labour as a ‘business-critical’ issue8

1.3 ETI Base Code Clause on Child Labour

12

2. The steps involved in applying a ‘due diligence’ approach

16

STEP 1: Assessing actual and potential risk of child labour

17

STEP 2: Identification of corporate leverage and responsibility, decision making and actions needed

20

STEP 3: Mitigation of risk and remediation for child workers in cases of ETI Base Code violations

22

STEP 4: Monitoring implementation and impact

26

Annex I: Glossary27

Annex II: International standards on child labour and the employment of young people under 18

28

Annex III: Additional resources

29Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

1

4

Introduction

This guidance is intended to help businesses understand child labour and the responsibilities of companies to embed theapplication of ETI’s Base Code Clause 4 in their global supply chains. It aims to frame and understand the complexity of theissues, recognising that each situation is different, and that no ‘one size fits all’ approach is possible. The guidance provides
advice to companies on what they could and should do to identify, manage, mitigate, prevent and continuously monitor andimprove their approaches to child labour.
This is not intended to be a definitive guide, but a work in progress. Many other specialist organisations have produced helpful
toolkits, guidance documents and briefings. These are listed in an extensive set of references in the Annex and signposts where
you might seek specific answers to specific questions requiring specialist expertise. ETI will continue to generate evidence, advice
and practical tools for companies as more is known about what works, where and why, and as more lessons are shared.
The report is structured as follows: the first part contains some important basic information about child labour, the challenges
for companies and the minimum standards enshrined in the ETI Base Code. The second section describes the steps involved inapplying a due diligence approach and contains advice on what companies can do to identify child labour, manage situations
where child labour is found, and how to prevent it from occurring in their supply chains. The final section contains definitions,information on international standards, as well as useful references and resources. Throughout the guide, you will find examples
and case studies aimed at helping companies learn from the experience, lessons and insights in different situations to help
strengthen their own responses.

“Every child has the right to be protected from
economic exploitation and from performing any
work that is likely to be hazardous or to interferewith the child’s education, or that is likely to harmthe child’s health, physical, mental, spiritual,moral or social development.”
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)5

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

1.1 What is child labour?
Universally agreed and legally binding rights are enshrinedin the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child(1989). The Convention defines a child as everyone under 18
years of age. The term “adolescent” refers to children aged 10
to 17; 18-19 year olds are referred to as ‘young adults’.
Children have a right to be protected from harm, have aright to an education and should attend school before they
start working. The international community has agreed thatyounger children should not be employed in full time work
before reaching a specified minimum age: International
Labour Office (ILO) Convention 138 sets this at 15. In somecountries, the age at which children can engage in full-timework is higher (16 or over), whilst in others, depending on
their development status, the age is set lower. The need forsupervision is also set to a higher standard than for adults.
There are specific and limited circumstances in which children
can undertake some types of work. Some national laws or
regulations permit ‘light work’ for children aged 13-15 which
is not harmful to their health and development, and does
not interfere with attending school or vocational training.
Convention 138 states that children should not be employedon light work for more than two hours a day, or spend morethan seven hours a day on a combination of school work andlight work. Children engaged in light work should have atleast one day a week off (as should adults), as well as public
holidays.

There are clear internationally binding standards about thetype of work children can do and their working hours arelimited. ILO’s ‘Worst Form of Child Labour Convention’ 182
states that no-one under 18 should be allowed to engage inthe “worst forms of child labour”, which includes work thatis hazardous, undertaken at night, requires long hours orcauses harm to the health, safety or morals of a child. ILO
Conventions 138 and 182 are ‘core labour standards’ that arebinding for all countries, regardless of whether or not they
have ratified these conventions.
But whilst the standards are clear, the reality may be different.
It may be difficult to clearly identify the difference between
work occasionally performed by children to help their families,
and other types of work that children perform to support
themselves or their families. This is particularly the case where
it may cause harm to their health, or where there is little
visibility, regulation or supervision.
As such, ETI advises companies to set clear standards ontolerance of child labour in global supply chains in line with
the ETI Base Code and international labour standards, tomanage and mitigate risks.
Some children work rather than attend school and many
leave home at an early age because they think they will bebetter off finding work elsewhere. Others are not just urged towork by their parents or offered work by local employers, but
are forced to work and are grossly exploited, for example as
child soldiers or providing sexual services. A variety of terms
are used to refer to extreme forms of child exploitation: saleof children, bonded labour, child servitude and the sexual
exploitation of children.

64

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

How many child labourers and where are they?
The ILO estimated in 2013 that there were 168 million
children working in circumstances that violated international
standards — the world’s child labourers1. This is almost 11%of the world’s children; more than half (85 million) engage inhazardous work.
Most of the world’s child workers are in Asian countries,
particularly South Asia. The proportion of children who work
rather than attending school in Asian countries has been
decreasing, while the proportion in many parts of Africa
remains high (approximately one third of all children in West
Africa). The overwhelming majority of child labourers (59%)
are reported by the ILO to work in agriculture, mainly on theirparents’ family farm, but many are also found in commercial
agriculture, for example cultivating cocoa and harvesting
cotton or crops. In a few countries in Central Asia, children
are conscripted once a year to work during their country’s
cotton harvest. The largest sector for girls’ employment
involves domestic work, but both girls and boys work for
manufacturers, e.g. in the garment industry. At the lowest
levels of supply chains, girls take on out-sourced work in theirown homes, alongside their mothers. Both boys and girls arefound working alongside desperately poor parents in brickkilns in South Asia.

Most child workers are involved in low skilled work which ispoorly paid (though employers in India, for example, haveclaimed that some stitching or other fine work can only bedone by children because of “their small hands”). All childworkers are vulnerable to abuse because of their immaturity(and sometimes their size), but those who have left home areparticularly vulnerable. Children who live with their employer
are especially vulnerable because of their high level ofdependency.
The effects of child labour on the children involved vary
according to the type of work and other circumstances. They
also vary according to the children themselves, with the samejob potentially having a different effect on a girl or a boy ofthe same age. A job that is particularly demeaning may simply
frustrate a child from one social background, whilst in the caseof children from particular indigenous peoples or minority
groups, it contributes to their lifelong social exclusion.

1 Estimates of numbers here and below come from ILO, Marking progress against child labour: Global estimates and trends 2000–12, Geneva, 2013. Annex 2
contains details of international standards.

7

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Why do children work?
Despite efforts to build enough schools for all children, there
are still many places where there are no schools, or not enoughschool places, or where attending school is not free. Even
when schooling is free, some families are so poor that they
have no option but to require their child to contribute to thehousehold’s income by working. Such poverty may be due to alack of economic opportunities.
In areas where many adults are in wage employment, childlabour is also caused by low wage levels, particularly wage rates
that are so low that they do not cover minimum household
expenses. In such cases, low wages paid to adults by a business’s
supplier may oblige the adults’ school-age children to work,
even if the children’s work is not in an export-oriented sector
and appears to have nothing to do with the business itself,
which might have a strong commitment to ethical trade.

In other cases, either parents or children think the education
on offer is unsuitable and believe that a child will benefit
more by starting work early. For example, leaving their village
and seeking work in a nearby town where there will be more
opportunities as the child grows up. Some adolescents want towork away from home, as this increases their freedom (earningmoney that they keep for themselves) and other opportunities,
such as non-formal education (i.e. classes they attend in freetime when not working).
Other children in work may be migrants fleeing violence
and they (and their families) are destitute. This leaves themvulnerable to exploitative employers and obliged to accept
harmful working conditions and extremely low wages.

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

8

1.2 Child labour as a ‘business-critical’ issue
Addressing child labour (particularly its worst forms) is a business-critical issue – essential for the credibility and legitimacy
of a business in the eyes of all its stakeholders. The presence of child labour is also likely to be indicative of poor management
practices and poor compliance with a wider set of labour standards. Children are often at the cheapest, most exploitable andexpendable end of the labour supply chain; but child labour can also be an indicator of poor attitudes and behaviour towards
workers more generally.

Responsibility for tackling child labour
Retailers and brands that are consumer facing and other major international businesses are very unlikely to encounter either
child labour or children working in their own operations. However, they have a responsibility to make sure that they understandthe risk of child labour being present in their supply chains and that their supply chain partners understand what needs to bedone to prevent child labour. A responsible company will need to consider what level of risk assessment needs to be made,through secondary information or through a detailed due diligence exercise involving local experts and children themselves. They
will need to consider to what extent they can rely on audits alone or whether they need to invest in their suppliers’ capacity
and systems to ensure that they are capable of tackling child labour. Suppliers, manufacturers, farmers and producers in the
supply chains of ETI members are more likely to face the direct risk of child labour and will have to face the challenge of ensuringchildren are not present at all, or if above the minimum age, that they are working in acceptable conditions.
But ending child labour requires the involvement of many others, apart from businesses:•• governments that set laws and policies (concerning education, as well as employment);•• political and religious leaders who influence the public’s views on what is acceptable work for children;•• trade unions and employers’ organisations,•• non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which campaign against child labour or provide working children with services,•• donors supporting child poverty alleviation schemes and others

Challenges for companies
While the minimum age must be respected, above this age not all the work that children do is harmful. A challenge for
employers and businesses sourcing in areas where child labour is common is to distinguish between jobs that should not be doneby children below a specified age and those which are reasonable for an adolescent child to be doing. Below are some examples
of unacceptable and acceptable forms of work that children might do to illustrate this.
It is acceptable in some circumstances for adolescents to help run their parent’s shop or to help a parent who is a home
worker, or to work part-time in the evenings or at weekends while also continuing with their studies. On the other hand, it isunacceptable for a ten-year-old child to be sent away to work full-time as a live-in domestic servant or in a factory. Similarly, it
is acceptable for adolescents to help out with the harvest during school holidays, but it is unacceptable for the government tooblige school children to harvest cotton or for children to spend all their time working alongside parents who, because they are
so poorly paid, cannot earn enough money to survive without the additional income generated by their child’s work.

9

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Establishing a young worker’s age

Homeworkers

There are several obstacles to finding out a young worker’s
age: either no proof of age is available or the child or child’s
parents want the child to keep working and are willing tolie about a young worker’s age. In addition, children fromvarious social groups and those from poor households may
look younger than they actually are. Visitors representing
companies may think a workshop has employed underagechildren when they are all at least 16. Or, vice versa, they may
assume the workers are young adults, when most are aged 15
or less.

The vast majority of homeworkers are women. In most places,
their daughters are more likely to be found working alongside
their mothers than their sons. Many homeworkers are paid apiece rate. If the price per piece is low, or if there are orders forlarge volumes in short timeframes, adult workers may needto ask other family members for help. In effect, they subcontract some of their work within the family.

Businesses based in industrialised countries are used tothe idea that proof of a child’s age is available (e.g. a birthcertificate). However, in many countries children may have nobirth certificate, and whatever certificates people do have may
be forged to suggest they are older than there are. Equally,
many children and parents genuinely do not know what age achild is or in which year the child was born.
Getting meaningful evidence of young people’s age may be
a challenge, but is something that local specialists can offer
advice on (e.g. on how common it is for forged documents to
be used).
Be aware that various techniques which are reputed toestimate a young person’s age accurately are in fact inaccurate
or even unethical (e.g. x-rays or examinations of a young
person’s teeth).

ADVICE•• At the time of recruitment, employers should ask for
proof of a young applicant’s age.
•• Employment agencies and other recruitment brokers
must be instructed to follow the business’ standard on
the minimum age for recruitment, facing a penalty (nomore business) if they provide under-age workers.
•• Employers should keep a register of young workers
that lists their name, date of recruitment, birth date,department, job, work schedule (including educationrelated restrictions) and supervisor’s name.
•• Auditors should investigate the age of a child if they
believe the worker may be under-age

If such work involves a 15-year-old daughter spending anhour after school helping her mother in work that is safe, thisis acceptable. If, however, this involves long hours, prevents
them from doing their school homework or causes other harm(e.g. eye strain when stitching garments in poor artificial
light), it is not acceptable. Neither is it acceptable if it resultsin children who are of compulsory school age not attending
school.
However, simply trying to put a stop to home-based work
could, in many countries, lead to inadvertent negative impacts
such as discrimination against women and girls and reduce
their economic independence.

ADVICEThe most effective way to avoid homeworkers passing
on inappropriate work to their children is to pay a fairpiece rate (and to check that a fair rate is being paid). ETIand Homeworkers Worldwide have produced guidancematerials on this – see Annex III.

10

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Other children working for their parents
Most child workers around the world work with and fortheir parents. This is often referred to as chores rather
than paid for work and can make a useful contribution to
the household. However, it can still be exploitative childlabour, for example if a child is prevented from attending
school, or is at risk of injury. In most countries, laws about
the minimum age for entering employment do not apply tochildren who are seen to be “helping out” in their parent’s
shop or helping run their mother’s food stall.

ADVICE
Businesses should apply similar standards (and use similar
methods) to those that apply to homeworkers.

Indirect corporate responsibility
Questions about the extent of a company’s responsibilities come up in different ways.

SCENARIO 1:
Some children earn a living on the fringes of the activities of a large business. They may not be directly employed orcommissioned by a business or its suppliers, but could be visible in or around a business. This raises dilemmas about theextent of businesses’ responsibilities and reactions. Some examples:•• In many countries, children can be seen selling snacks
at a factory’s gates or on their premises, some helping aparent and some working by themselves.
•• In Albania, children have been seen scrambling over amine’s rubbish tip to pick up discarded pieces of rockthat they can sell. These rocks may become part of the
supply chain.
•• In many countries, adult workers (particularly women)
are only able to afford to go out to work because they
employ an under-age domestic worker—who remains
entirely invisible.

ADVICE
Businesses do not have direct responsibility for how
workers spend their money, nor for the way a local
economy works. However, they do have responsibility
to take remedial action when children are working
inappropriately on a business’s premises or when goods orservices supplied by children are part of their supply chain.

When child work is prohibited, what actions should companies take?
One of the requirements of the ILO Child Labour Convention 182 is for individual countries to compile a list of hazardous
activities, typically by sector. But many countries have not done this. Where this list has been developed, and working-age
children are legally working, then it is important to make sure that workplaces are aware of the forms of hazardous work.
If children are eligible to work, but working long hours, at night or undertaking hazardous work, their tasks should be reassigned and working hours adjusted accordingly. However, this can be quite subtle. One hazard might be quite obvious,
for example operating dangerous machinery, but others may need to be adjusted to age, for example lifting bales – sorted
by sizes and weight, with careful supervision.
Businesses can also use their influence to discourage the inappropriate involvement of child workers in activities for which
the business has no legal responsibility.

11

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOURSCENARIO 2:
Where children are to be found working on farms, some businesses buying a wide variety of agricultural produce have
opted for a “whole farm” approach to child labour. Instead of checking whether child labour is used to produce the crop
they buy, they insist that no children should be working inappropriately anywhere on the farm. This can be very effective,
but at the same time, it may be difficult to prohibit legally acceptable work by children who are helping their families with
agricultural activity for their own domestic consumption.
UTZ Code of Conduct child labour requirements apply to a whole farm and all farm and farming group activities, not justthe UTZ crop. This includes children working on non-cash crops (such as food for family consumption), in the household
or on other tasks such as looking after livestock. It means that businesses purchasing agricultural produce have to fully
resolve all cases of child labour on a farm. They cannot simply displace the problem of child labour onto a different, noncertified part of the farm (see UTZ Guidance Document on Child Labour in Annex III).

Child work that is prohibited

Actions for businesses to takeBusinesses may not employ anyone under the age of 18 in any type ofwork that by its nature or circumstances is hazardous or is carried out ina way likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons.

Check what jobs are prohibited for anyone under 18 and takeresponsibility for identifying jobs or tasks which are hazardous.

Businesses may not employ a child on a full-time basis if the child isstill of compulsory school age. Part-time work should not interferewith the child’s education.

Check what national law stipulates as a minimum age for starting fulltime employment and about part-time employment for younger children.

Businesses may not employ anyone under 18 to work at night.

Check that adolescent workers are not being asked to work overtime
or are working too many hours or are unable to continue with theirschooling.

Child workers may not be hit, beaten or subjected to other violence(nor is it legitimate to inflict violence on any other workers)

Check that workplace supervisors are not allowed (even unofficially)
to use violence against child workers.

Check that child workers are not being asked to work overtime. Ifthey are either working too many hours or are unable to continue
with their schooling, that is unacceptable.

12

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

1.3 ETI Base Code Clause on Child Labour
Clause 4 of the ETI Base Code states

4Child labour shall not be used.

4.1

There shall be no new recruitment of child labour.

shall develop or participate in and contribute to policies and programmes which provide for the
4.2 Companies
transition of any child found to be performing child labour to enable her or him to attend and remain in
quality education until no longer a child; “child” and “child labour” being defined in the appendices.

4.3 Children and young persons under 18 shall not be employed at night or in hazardous conditions.
4.4 These policies and procedures shall conform to the provisions of the relevant ILO standards

Clause 4: What does ‘child labour shall not be used’ mean?
International standards say that no child under 15 should
be in full-time employment although there are transitionary
exceptions for some developing countries which allow children
aged 14 to be in full-time employment. This potentiallymakes it complicated for businesses to know what standard
to respect in a particular country. In this case they should
use international standards as their point of reference. For
example, ETI company members and their suppliers are
expected to ensure that working conditions are compliant
with the ETI Base Code of labour standards or with local law,whichever is higher.
International standards allow for younger children to takeon some ‘light work’ (defined in Annex I), but this shouldbe part-time and compatible with attending school. In thecontext of global supply chains, we strongly recommend thatthe international standard minimum age of 15 for full time
work should be enforced; even if a country’s laws allow for
the employment of younger workers. While most countries
have legislation regulating the employment of children andadolescents, in some places no serious effort is made toenforce the law. Knowing the level of enforcement in a given
country and/or region should inform the level of scrutiny thata business applies to this issue with its supply chain partners.

In most countries, the minimum age at which children may
leave school is the same as the minimum age at which they
may start full-time work, so adolescents who have reachedthis minimum age may be employed. However, in somecountries minimum age laws are not coherent (compulsory
education may end several years before the minimum age at
which children may enter employment). Even when children
are old enough to be employed full-time (i.e. at least 15), there
are some jobs which are not suitable for them, either because
the job itself or some of the tasks involved are hazardous.

ADVICE
Businesses should ensure employers across the supply
chain observe any requirements of the law concerningadolescent workers under 18, such as seeking theauthorisation of a government’s Labour Inspectorate
before hiring someone aged under 18. Neither should
under 18s be required to work at night, or to work longhours (more than eight hours a day or five days a week).
Consider making sure that there are checks in place with
suppliers so that any young person under 18 who isrecruited is fit to carry out the work assigned to them (bymedical checks).

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

13

What are the ‘worst forms of child labour’?
International standards define some categories of work for children as the “worst forms of child labour” in which no young
people under 18 years of age should be involved. This includes a list of hazardous tasks or jobs that is supposed to be agreed by
the authorities in each country (though some lists are adopted without appropriate consultation or expertise).
Where harm has been caused to children working in contravention of national law, provisions in the ETI Base Code and ILO
Conventions, appropriate remedial action needs to be taken. This could include compensation, support provided to enable
children to complete their schooling, and other forms of support to the family if needed. Companies should also ensure that any
negative health impacts also result in appropriate remedy.
In a situation where a case of child labour is identified, it is not acceptable to summarily dismiss the child. This may often cause
them more harm than is being caused by remaining at work. The nature of the work, supervision or hours worked could be
adjusted, for example, to reduce the hazard or negative impact. However, children should not be kept working in circumstancesthat present an immediate risk of harm.

Protection for the child is the most important consideration and involving credible local experts isthe best way to develop an appropriate strategy for the individual child/children concerned. Working
with their suppliers, businesses need to balance the importance of taking prompt action that protects
a child against avoiding inappropriate actions. Inappropriate actions can include dismissing childworkers, forbidding the employment of anyone below 18 or prohibiting home-based work (in casechildren participate in the work).

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

14

Reducing the risk of harm to working children (in contravention with the ETI Base Code)The priority for businesses and employers should be to have clear policies and procedures in place to ensure that children’s bestinterests are the primary consideration for decisions and actions that affect anyone under 18.
When children are old enough to be employed full-time, they should be provided with decent work. That means workin which workers’ rights are protected and which generates an adequate income, with adequate social protection, working
in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. It is important that work is age appropriate, is not hazardous
and is properly supervised recognising that greater oversight is likely to be required when compared to adults. Recognising
their particular vulnerability, businesses should check that young workers are not subjected to violence at work by managers,
supervisors or fellow workers; in a number of countries where child labour is common, adults regard it as acceptable to slap or
use other physical or psychological violence against children.
Young workers should be recruited and employed without discrimination of any kind including race, skin colour, sex,age, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, sexual orientation, trade union
membership, disability or other status. Ensuring decent work that is free from violence or discrimination implies providing
training for management and supporting them in setting up appropriate workplace systems and production processes (notably
to allow appropriate levels of production without unacceptable pressure or coercion of workers).
It is important not to exclude adolescents from the workplace once they are old enough to be employed, unless there arelegal considerations or other reasonable grounds for doing so. This is because exclusion may be against a young person’s bestinterests. Employers who are keen not to be found employing child labour have sometimes excluded older adolescents fromtheir workforce (as well as children below the minimum age). In such cases, young workers are made more vulnerable to abuseand exploitation if they feel compelled to look for work in other factories with lower labour standards or with unscrupulous subcontractors.
If suppliers provide apprenticeships, businesses should ensure that these are properly registered and supervised, not aform of forced labour. Neither should they allow any form of abuse or exploitation, for example through withholding wages,
enforcing long hours, threat or harassment.

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

15

EXAMPLE: When child labour becomes forced labour: an example from India
Tamil Nadu in southern India is the powerhouse of India’s garments and textiles export sector. Yet some of its mainly young,female workforce has been subject to severe labour exploitation, including bonded labour.
The state’s cotton spinning mills have traditionally employed young women aged from 15 to 18 (although there havebeen cases of child workers aged as young as 13), who are employed on fixed-term contracts (usually between three andfive years). During this time, they earn minimal wages and at the end are promised a lump sum to pay for a dowry. This isnormally equivalent to a year’s pay, which they only receive if they complete their contracts.
This so-called sumangali system has the effect of forcing young women to remain with the same employer.2 They often work
long hours (more than 60 hours a week), sometimes seven days a week, in hazardous working conditions. Neither are they allowedout (unsupervised) of the area containing their workplace and dormitories. This restriction on freedom of movement is justified
locally on the grounds that young women are ‘safe’ from male predators and that it is in accordance with parents’ wishes.
Such harsh working and living conditions reportedly affect the health of girl workers, but those who stop work due to illhealth go unremunerated. In 2012 approximately 100,000 girls and young women were reported to be employed in thissystem.3 Subsequently, ETI set up its Tamil Nadu Multi-Stakeholder (TNMS) programme bringing together companies, tradeunions and NGOs. See http://www.ethicaltrade.org/programmes.
One part of this is Nalam – the Tamil word for wellbeing – which delivers training on women’s health issues and employment
rights within spinning mills. Young women have reported and demonstrated greater confidence in addressing their
managers and supervisors. Mills have set up workplace committees and Committees Against Sexual Harassment (CASH).
New grievance mechanisms are also in place. Additionally, NGO and union campaigns are helping to bring about systemicchange, with many factories now claiming to have discontinued sumangali.

Other child rights issues for companies to take into accountIn addition to ensuring that they do not exploit child labour, businesses also have an obligation to avoid causing other“adverse human rights impacts” to children. These include impacts that occur outside the workplace, such as harming children bydispossessing their parents of a family farm, polluting their source of drinking water or marketing goods that are harmful to children.
Further details about other adverse impacts and ways of avoiding them can be found in the Reference section of this Guide.
Paying older adolescent and adult workers a living wage can reduce the pressure on poor households to send a child out towork before reaching the appropriate minimum age. Ensuring that suppliers pay their workers a living wage is therefore also
an indirect way of preventing child labour. However, there are often multiple causes of child labour, including lack of social
protection provided by governments for health and education. ETI has produced Guidance on Living Wages with practicalguidance on implementing living wages in global supply chains (see Annex III).

2 See M. Theuws & P. Overeem, Flawed Fabrics. The abuse of girls and women workers in the South Indian textile industry, SOMO (Stichting Onderzoek
Multinationale Ondernemingen, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) and the India Committee of the Netherlands, 2014.
3 Fair Labor Association, Understanding the Characteristics of the Sumangali Scheme in Tamil Nadu Textile & Garment Industry and Supply Chain Linkages,
prepared by Solidaridad-South & South East Asia, 2012.

16

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

2 THE STEPS INVOLVED IN APPLYINGA ‘DUE DILIGENCE’ APPROACH
ETI’s Human Rights Due Diligence Framework (2016) is basedon the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights(UNGPs). It is focused on labour standards and is the result of
tripartite consultations with companies, trade union and NGOs.
The term “human rights due diligence” refers to the process ofa business (and other organisations) identifying and addressing
the human rights impacts of its business across its operations
and products, and throughout its supplier and business partner
networks. A due diligence approach helps with the effective
identification, prevention and remediation of child labour.

What do companies need to do to apply ahuman rights due diligence approach?
The process includes assessing actual and the risk of potential
human rights impacts, including on child workers and otherchildren, acting upon the findings by addressing identified abusesof rights and significant risks of their occurring, and tracking
and communicating the business’ performance by accounting
publicly for what has been done. The four principle stages of theprocess are set out below.
Due diligence is needed with respect to all core labour standards.
Leading companies are increasingly conducting human rights risk
analyses by country, sector or type of labour and prioritising theidentified risks accordingly.

17

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

STEP 1: Assessing actual and potential risk of child labour
The human rights due diligence process starts by using
common sense and open source information to find out thelikelihood that child labour might be present in a particularregion, country or economic sector where a company isconsidering, or already doing business. A list of valuable
sources is to be found in Annex II.
In places where child labour is known to be prevalent,extra efforts need to be taken. It is important to check
what suppliers’ levels of awareness are, what systems andprovisions they have in place, what local experts report andwhat actions can be taken to reduce the risk of child labour.
This must be both at suppliers’ premises and also at lower
tiers in the supply chain. Where there is a higher level ofrisk, or lack of clarity, more detailed inquiry and indirect
methods may be required to investigate further, including theunderlying causes of child labour in the particular context.
Businesses should seek information at local level about thework being done by children in areas where they or their
suppliers operate, and not rely solely on experts at national
or international level. Detailed information is needed. It is notgood enough to hear that “the girls entering the factory lookold enough” (they may all be 16 or older and entitled to work,
though not in hazardous tasks. Or they may even be younger
than the permitted age).
Assessments about the working conditions of children andadults can be carried out by specialist researchers who haveexperience of interviewing workers confidentially and safely.
They will know to take precautions to ensure that employers
are not aware of these interviews (in case they take retaliatory
action). UNICEF and Save the Children have publishedguidance for businesses on engaging stakeholders on children’s
rights as part of enhancing their standards and practices atboth the corporate and site levels (see Annex III).

A major challenge is to find out what is happening beyond
the first tier of suppliers (i.e. the suppliers that have contracts
with buyers). Some suppliers may be located far away fromfirst tier suppliers or in isolated locations which even specialist
researchers face challenges to visit. One example of thisoccurred in Uttar Pradesh in India, when inspectors arrived incars to check carpet-making units in villages. As cars visited
rarely, the inspectors were spotted well before their arrivaland the children working in carpet making units were removed
and went undetected.
Potential informants include:•• Workers’ organisations (trade unions)•• NGOs that focus on children or adolescents•• Youth associations•• Community organisations or local community
representatives•• Local school teachers•• Trade associations.
The assessments prepared may result in one of the following
conclusions:•• No significant risk identified•• Potential risk identified given the presence of adolescentworkers or the nature of the work e.g. homework.
•• Actual risk identified with existing or previous cases ofchild labour, or conditions that present hazards to children•• Evidence of child labour requiring immediate action.

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

18

Case study: Identifying country risk
The Cotton Campaign challenges the continuing use of forced child (and adult) labour during the cotton harvest in
Uzbekistan (and other Central Asian Republics). A coalition of human rights organizations, trade unions, investors andbusiness associations, it documents how the Government of Uzbekistan forces people to work on the country’s cotton
harvest (amounting to approximately 3.3 million tonnes in 2015). The coalition argues that, because of the extensive useof forced labour, businesses buying cotton should avoid buying cotton from Uzbekistan or from companies known to buy
Uzbek cotton.
The Cotton Campaign calls on all businesses purchasing cotton to “establish a policy that prohibits the use of cotton fromUzbekistan and Turkmenistan and prohibits business with companies that use it”. It also asks that businesses specificallysign the Cotton Pledge to “not knowingly source Uzbek cotton for the manufacturing of any of our products until theGovernment of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced child and adult labor in its cotton sector” (see http://www.
cottoncampaign.org/what-companies-that-use-cotton-can-do.html).
In 2007, a group of retailers in Europe and North America, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Tesco and Marks and Spencer,
announced that they would not allow Uzbek cotton to be used in products they sold. By 2013, 136 companies were reported
to refuse to source their cotton in Uzbekistan.

19

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Legal provisions on child labour

Social audits conducted too narrowly

Although the law in most countries stipulates a minimum
age at which adolescents may enter full-time employment,in some developing countries the authorities make little orno effort to enforce such laws.

Auditors contracted by businesses have often fallen into
the same trap (of visiting a workplace and restricting theirinspection to a discussion with managers and a review of apaper trail). Some individual companies check (or “audit”)
their suppliers for compliance with a range of standards,
such as the ETI’s Base Code. But the time and extent of theaudit is often limited, and they may have only a few hours
every year to check a work site. Furthermore, they are mostly
pre-announced. As such, it is difficult to rely on the veracityof information from these audits if workers are not spoken
to directly or without the presence of their managers. Even if
auditors insist on interviewing workers, factory owners andmanagers will often ensure that the most vulnerable workers
are excluded from any interviews, and that any children are
hidden from view.

Labour inspectors
Labour inspectorates or other government agencies have a
responsibility to check that minimum age law is respected.
They can be extremely effective in investigating potential
situations of child labour and in holding companies to account
if this is found. But in many places, this does not happen.
Some labour inspectorates are too poorly resourced to visit
work sites; some are not pressed by their government toenforce child labour laws or regulations; yet others are corrupt
and either bribed or otherwise influenced by employers toturn a blind eye.
Even when labour inspectors do visit factories or other worksites where child labour is present, the procedures used todetect them may be ineffective. For example, if visits areannounced in advance, young children can be hidden andolder adolescents can be reassigned from hazardous work on
to acceptable tasks. If inspectors only review documentationand do not interview workers, they may be deceived by falsified
information, and they are unlikely to get a true picture.

Audits should be complemented by information from labour
inspectors, local civil society organisations, trade union
representatives and other labour rights experts. Correlating
information from a variety of sources is likely to give a moreaccurate picture of the situation.

20

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

STEP 2: Identification of corporate leverage and responsibility,
decision-making and actions needed
Ensuring a business is well prepared to identify and tackle child labour is an important starting point.
Experience shows that:•• The engagement of senior leaders is the strongest enablerof corporate action on human rights issues, including action
to stop the exploitation of children.
•• There is a clear risk to brand image if child labour is foundin the supply chain. Many companies have codes of conductthat prohibit child labour.
•• Larger companies can influence smaller and mediumsized businesses in their value chain but can also influencecompetitors and strengthen respect for children’s rights
throughout a particular sector•• Retailers working together with multi-stakeholder
initiatives have more influence than a business applying
pressure on its suppliers by itself.
•• Leverage is easiest in the first tier of a business’s supply
chain, i.e. where brands and retailers are visible and havedirect relationships based on contracts.
•• Additional efforts are needed to identify child labour at
lower levels of the supply chain. Unannounced spot checks,
investigations and interviews outside the workplace insurrounding communities can be effective in detecting therisks and incidence of child labour.
•• One of the key challenges for companies is how best andhow long to work alongside suppliers to improve working
conditions, whilst also having red-lines in place when theminimum standards on child labour are not met.
As in the case of efforts to eradicate modern-day slavery ingeneral, barriers to corporate action include:•• insufficient leverage with suppliers to gain their engagement•• dealing with commercial partners that deny the possibilityof child labour existing in their sector•• a lack of urgency to address the risk. It may require a crisisin the media that exposes the company to reputational
damage before effective and swift action is taken.

Whenever a business has reason to be concerned that children
may be employed in circumstances that contradict minimum
standards, it must take steps to check if the concerns arevalid. It also must protect any children found working inunacceptable circumstances.
It is difficult to provide generic guidance on when a company
should engage with a local supplier where child labour has
been found, how long to work with them in addressing the
problem, and when a zero-tolerance policy should be adopted.
The protection and welfare of the child or children concerned
must be the overriding priority. The business needs tobalance an approach on engaging with the supplier to ensure
remediation and improve systems so that it does not happen
again, against the risk that a supplier may try to remove thechildren and avoid responsibility.
Each situation needs to be assessed on its own merits, therelationship with the supplier, the nature of the issue (anadolescent worker employed with poor supervision would
be different to a child in bonded labour for example) and inaccordance with relevant best practice.
Where a supplier is using child labour intentionally or engaging
in other illegal activities, a different approach is needed. Insuch cases, the company will need to involve police, labour
inspectors or other officials, but should be mindful that insome places law enforcement officials are corrupt and may
collude with local criminals or turn a blind eye.

21

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Case study: Identifying corporate responsibility
International Cocoa Initiative

Better Factories Cambodia

From time to time there is media publicity alleging that a
particular company is retailing products made by children
or that its suppliers in a particular place are exploiting childlabour. In the 1990s, it was relatively standard for retailers
to deny such reports, but it soon became clear that denials
were often not considered credible. When a television
documentary in 2000 reported that forced child labour was
occurring in Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa sector, cocoa importers
in the UK chose to respond instead by commissioning a
specialist to check whether the allegations were likely tobe accurate before issuing any denials. They subsequently
became involved in a substantial process to address bothchild labour and forced child labour on cocoa farms in four
African countries (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana andNigeria), known as the International Cocoa Initiative.

The ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) programme(http://betterfactories.org/) is a good example ofcollaborative efforts to combat child labour. To acquire
export licences for apparel and textiles, factories mustsign up to BFC. The programme includes mandatory
inspections and public reporting of results. Inspectors
monitor garment factories through unannounced visits tocheck for compliance with national and international labour
standards, including child labour, and work with factories
to implement remediation plans. The BFC does not claim tohave completely eliminated child labour. As is common in
the garment sector, many adolescent girls are employed and
it is difficult to establish who is old enough to be employedlegitimately and who is too young. Numerous ETI members
support the programme.

STEP 3: Mitigation of risk and remediation for child workers incases of ETI Base Code violations

KEY PRINCIPLES•• The protection of the child and his/herinterests comes first•• A child should not be dismissed without
due regard for what happens to him/her•• Any solution must improve the child’ssituation and not make the child more
vulnerable to abuse•• Consult the child and his/her family or
guardian•• Involve relevant professionals and othertrusted stakeholders as needed

Is the child being harmed by the employer
or are criminals involved in exploitation?
•• Remove the child to a safe place (eg government
child protection officials or local child rights
organisation) and check they are not moved to aworse situation•• If trafficking or other criminal activity is involved,
contact the relevant authorities. Check if they are
trusted•• Get updated information from the supplier on what
has happened to the child and a confirmation that thechild has not been allowed to remain under control ofcriminals

Are they engaged in hazardous work?
Is there a suspicion that a child is at work?
Conduct a careful and sensitive investigation to discover
the age of the child and their circumstances

Stop the young worker being involved in work or tasks
that are hazardous and provide an alternative without
penalising them

MITIGATIONIs the child too young for full-time
employment or are they engaged in nightwork?
•• Find out what alternatives are open to the child,including full or part-time education, continuing
to work part-time, referral to a local NGO that can
provide appropriate services and support•• Reduce or change the hours•• Keep open the job for when they are allowed to work•• Offer another adult member of the family a job andpay a living wage•• Be willing to suspend suppliers who are not demonstrating
cooperation or commitment to urgent action•• Review and communicate child labour policies,
recruitment and HR procedures and approaches,and clarify expectations of company and supplier•• Review personnel records at the workplace to check
if other children are employed or whether records arebeing falsified systematically•• Commission investigators to find out if 2nd or 3rd tiersuppliers use child labour•• Review tasks performed by children if legal, and makechanges if appropriate•• Identify and address root causes of child labour in theworkplace, eg low wages for adults, purchasing practices•• Put in place training on child labourand changing attitudes and behavioursof managers and supervisors•• Urge the introduction of a formal mechanism
for mediation, conciliation and arbitration•• Engage with local labour inspectors to
improve inspection•• Identify local NGO and other stakeholders
on education and other services forchildren at work•• Engage with other companies sourcing
from the same factory where possible

REMEDIATION•• Ensure affected children are safe, protected fromvictimisation or further vulnerability•• Consult with the child and his/her family to understandtheir wishes and needs•• Agree a process and next steps for the child/children
involved with the supplier•• Compensate for loss of income and get commitment
for remediation, including a stipend, housing, food
while an investigation gets underway•• Offer the child’s job to a qualified adult memberof the family•• Enable the child to attend school and ensure paymentof fees•• Conduct a detailed investigation with appropriate childlabour and protection expertise•• Establish a monitoring mechanism and conduct regularreviews of progress

24

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR‘Do no harm’ principle - what not to do
Just as businesses should avoid knee-jerk reactions, such as requesting the dismissal of child workers when they are identified,
so it is rarely sensible for businesses or their suppliers to impose a blanket ban on the employment of any young workers below
18 unless it involves hazardous work. Some businesses might be tempted to do this to avoid the possibility of being criticised for
exploiting child labour. A blanket ban would constitute discrimination against older adolescents. It could create incentives for
employers to hide the use of child labour, for example through illegal sub-contracting. A critical risk of a blanket ban approachis that it could expose young people to even greater harm, because they may have no option than to seek work in places where
there is scant regard for any workers’ rights.

What to do
In addition to putting safeguards in place to prevent therecruitment or employment of workers who are too young,or the involvement of any workers under 18 in hazardous
work, responsible businesses can promote respect for a rangeof workers’ rights (in their workplaces and those of their
suppliers). When rights are respected, they have the effect of
discouraging child labour. These include:•• Recognition of freedom of association (workers’ right toform trade unions and engage in collective bargaining);•• Discouragement of discrimination based on gender, racialor other origins or other relevant factors, as discrimination
has the effect of marginalising certain adults from themainstream workforce and increasing their dependency on
their children’s earnings;•• Promotion of whistleblowing procedures (for workers tocomplain about abuses of workers’ rights, including theinappropriate employment of children).
Trade unionists routinely argue that ‘formalisation’ of theworkplace is an effective way of preventing a range of
workplace abuses, including child labour. But it is importantfor companies to be aware that some NGOs that are in close
contact with working children (including working children’sorganisations) dispute this approach. They worry that it has
the effect of marginalising adolescent workers (and increasing
their exposure to abuse).

Businesses can:•• Promote direct employment of workers and urge suppliers
to do the same, rather than rely on sub-contracting
relationships with self-employed workers;• • Establish formal business relationships with business
partners and urge first tier suppliers similarly to establish
formal relationships with their own suppliers. This will help
to promote accountability and transparency;•• Keep supply chains as short as possible (i.e. keep the numberof tiers to a minimum so it is feasible to check on labour
conditions all along the chain and to be held accountablefor what happens at all tiers of the supply chain).
Large multinational companies are also urged by trade unions
to consider developing an international framework agreementwith one of the global union federations (also known as international
trade secretariats, see http://www.global-unions.org/).

Social LabelSeveral social labels have been developed in India, acountry with high numbers of child labourers, startingwith one known as ‘Rugmark’ (now GoodWeave) offering
a guarantee that hand-knotted woollen carpets were notmade with illegal child labour

25

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Case study: Fairstone label
ETI’s member company, Marshalls, uses a ‘Fairstone’ label for its products(http://www.marshalls.co.uk/homeowners/garden-paving/fairstone). This isintended as evidence for consumers that the product has been produced without
exploiting child labour.
Marshalls is committed to the principles of the ETI Base Code and has been
trying to eliminate child labour in the quarrying sector in Rajasthan (India) forover 10 years. Marshalls developed its own ‘Marshalls Protocol Regarding theElimination of Child Labour’. This is effectively a Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) for the organisation, which sets out the measures to be taken to help
ensure a child labour free supply chain. It also details what should be done in
the best interests of a child if an instance of child labour is identified. Using theFairstone label, Marshalls offers a guarantee that it knows where its quarriedstone comes from, how it was manufactured and that it has been produced inaccordance with a clear and unequivocal set of ethical values and commitments
listed on its website.
For additional information, see http://www.marshalls.co.uk/documents/reports/
ChildLabourBooklet.pdf

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

26

STEP 4: Monitoring implementation and impact, ensuring thatthe best interests of children are taken into consideration,
reviewing and reporting
Doing the right thing is not enough. It is necessary for a company to document what it does to identify possible
abuse, to remedy abuses when they are detected and to prevent them from recurring. It is also necessary to report toshareholders and the wider public (and sometimes to government agencies) on these and on the remedial or preventive actions
taken.
Businesses and employers have a special responsibility to document the actions they take that affect children. This is partly
because there is potential for well-intentioned actions to have unexpected harmful effects. For example, child workers who are
dismissed from their jobs may be recruited by criminals or end up in prostitution. This makes it essential to keep accurate records
when child labour is detected, noting all the remedial measures taken.
When it is a supplier or business partner who is responsible for initiating an action that affects a child, a company should checkthat the supplier or business partner understands what records should be kept. Check the accuracy of records. For example, arecord on file might consist of a short statement of what is said to have happened, but may not reflect either what action staff inthe supplier business took or what they said to a child worker.
Documenting the actions taken and their results is intended to enable a company to review the ways in which it obtains andverifies information about workplace abuse in general (and reports of child labour in particular). This should be part of aninternal learning process, i.e. enabling company staff to assess how particular suppliers or researchers have responded when
asked to provide information, and the apparent accuracy of the information provided.
Key Performance Indicators and strategies should be put in place for monitoring and continuously reviewing the effectivenessof child labour policies and procedures, as well as decision-making and accountability systems within the company, and revisingthem where appropriate.

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

27

Annex I: Glossary
Adolescent

A child between the age of 10 and 17 and also a young adult aged 19 or 20.

Best interestsof the child

Article 3.1 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) stipulates that, “In all actions concerning children,whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative
bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”. This means that many government agencies andsome private institutions caring for children have a legal obligation to make the best interests of a child a primaryconsideration in all decisions and actions affecting the child or affecting children; to prove they have done so, theymust keep a formal record of decisions affecting an individual child or children in general. The legal obligations forbusinesses are not so stringent: it is good practice to keep a record of decisions affecting a young employee aged
under 18 and to make the child’s best interests a primary consideration.

Child

Every boy and girl under the age of 18. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) says: “For the purpose ofthis present Convention, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicableto the child, majority is attained earlier” (article 1). In Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, it is usual practice
to distinguish between the boys and girls, on the one hand, and older adolescents, on the other, thereby recognisingthat adolescents are more mature and can take on more responsibilities than younger children.

Forced labour

Article 2.1 of the ILO Convention No. 29 on Forced Labour (1930) defines the term “forced or compulsory labour” tomean “all work or service which is exacted from any person [ie., child or adult] under the menace of any penalty andfor which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”.

Girl(s)Female children aged under 18: not young adult women.

Hazardous work

Defined by Article 3 (d) of the ILO’s Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
as “Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or
morals of children”. Such work falls in three distinct categories:
1. Young people under 18 employed in hazardous industries (such as the construction industry, where the entire
environment on a construction site is inherently dangerous)
2. Young people under 18 employed in hazardous occupations ( eg. leather tanning, where the tanning process isdangerous)
3. Young people under 18 working under hazardous conditions ( eg. in situations which make any worker vulnerable
to danger’).

Light work

Work which is not likely to be harmful to the health or development of the child, and will not prejudice school
attendance, participation in vocational orientation, training programmes approved by authorities, or the child’s
capacity to benefit from the instruction received. Children aged 13 to 15 years (or 12 to 14 years in some developing
countries) may be employed in light work if national laws or regulations permit.

Minimum Age

The ILO Convention No. 138 concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (1973) stipulates thatthe minimum age for admission to employment should “not be less than 15 years”, but special provisions allow
developing countries to opt for a minimum age of 14 (though supposedly only temporarily). Some states havechosen to make the minimum age 16 rather than 15.

Primary
consideration

Formal decisions require certain criteria to be primary considerations, while other factors are only secondary
considerations. Decisions affecting children should make the best interests of the child a primary consideration (ie.
among other primary considerations).

Trafficking(in children, or
human trafficking,or trafficking
in persons)

The recruitment, transport, transfer, accommodation or receipt of persons (adults or children or both);•• in the case of adults, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of
deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or
benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person•• in the case of children, it refers to the recruitment, transport, transfer, accommodation or receipt of children,whether or not these abusive means are used.
In both cases (of adult and children), it is for the purpose of exploitation, which includes the exploitation of theprostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar toslavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

28

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Annex II: International standards on child labour
UN minimum standards for business
The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special
Representative on business and human rights, Professor John
Ruggie, published a set of Guiding Principles on Business andHuman Rights in 2011 (at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf).
They are divided into three parts:•• Part I on “the State duty to protect human rights”;•• Part II focuses on “the Corporate responsibility to respecthuman rights”; and•• Part III on “Access to remedy”.
The first “foundational principle” for businesses is that:“Business enterprises should respect human rights. Thismeans that they should avoid infringing on the human rights
of others and should address adverse human rights impacts
with which they are involved” (Principle 11).
This principle means that businesses should not infringe theright of children below certain ages not to work.
The Guiding Principles’ key requirements on businesses(Principle 13)“The responsibility to respect human rights requires thatbusiness enterprises:(a) Avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights
impacts through their own activities, and address suchimpacts when they occur;(b) Seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights
impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products
or services by their business relationships, even if they havenot contributed to those impacts”.
With specific reference to the contents of business codes andpolicies, Principle 15 specifies that
“In order to meet their responsibility to respect humanrights, business enterprises should have in place policies
and processes appropriate to their size and circumstances,including:(a) A policy commitment to meet their responsibility torespect human rights;(b) A human rights due diligence process [emphasis added]
to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they
address their impacts on human rights;(c) Processes to enable the remediation of any adverse
human rights impacts they cause or to which they contribute”.

The reference to “a human rights due diligence process” inPrinciple 15 is critical. It refers to the process that a businessmust undertake to identify its possible impacts on humanrights and to address these, in effect setting minimum
standards that every business should meet. A UN publication
describes it as follows:“Human rights due diligence refers to the process ofidentifying and addressing the human rights impacts ofa business enterprise across its operations and products,
and throughout its supplier and business partner networks.
Human rights due diligence should include assessments
of internal procedures and systems, as well as external
engagement with groups potentially affected by its
operations”(The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. An
Introduction, accessed at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
Issues/Business/Intro_Guiding_PrinciplesBusinessHR.pdf).

OECD Guidelines
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) adopted a set of Guidelines forMultinational Enterprises in 1986. These were revised in 2011
(to ensure their compatibility with the UN Guiding Principles)and are available at http://www.oecd.org/corporate/
mne/48004323.pdf.

29Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

Annex III: Additional resources
There are a huge number of publications and online resources about child labour. Only a few of these resources are mentioned
here – those that seem likely to be most useful to ETI members.

A. Standards to be observed by businesses
The website of the UN Global Compact Human Rights andLabour Working Group contains both guidelines and casestudies at https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/human-rights-labour-working-group
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (established by the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) published General

Comment 16, On State obligations regarding the impact of thebusiness sector on children’s rights (at https://www2.ohchr.
org/english/bodies/crc/docs/GC/CRC-C-GC-16_en.doc). Thisfocuses on what governments are required to do with respect
to business impacts on children, but is relevant for individual
businesses to understand.

B. Guidelines on taking action and practical advice
UNICEF, the UN Global Compact and Save the Children

By ILO and UNICEF together•• Ten Children’s Rights and Business Principles weredeveloped jointly by the Global Compact, UNICEF andSave the Children. The Principles are found at https://www.unicef.org/csr/css/PRINCIPLES_23_02_12_
FINAL_FOR_PRINTER.pdf. A dedicated website (http://
childrenandbusiness.org) provides other relevant
information and guidance.

•• Supporting Workers with Family Responsibilities.
Connecting Child Development and the Decent Work
Agenda. 2013: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/
public/---dgreports/---integration/documents/publication/
wcms_217181.pdf

ILO tools:•• International Organization of Employers (IOE) and ILO:
How to do business with respect for children’s right tobe free from child labour. ILO-IOE Child labour guidance
tool for business. 2015. At http://www.ilo.org/ipec/
Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_27555/lang--en/index.htm. Further information is also available at http://
ilo.org/ipec/projects/global/protect-respect-remedy/lang-en/index.htm
UNICEF tools:•• UNICEF child labour guide: https://www.unicef.org/
protection/files/Child_Labour_and_UNICEF_in_Action.pdf•• UNICEF website on child labour:•• https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_child_labour.html•• Engaging Stakeholders on Children’s Rights. A Tool for
Companies. 2014. UNICEF’s guide on how to involve
local people when investigating how children’s rights arerespected. At https://www.unicef.org/csr/css/Stakeholder_
Engagement_on_Childrens_Rights_021014.pdf•• Children’s Rights in Impact Assessments. A guide for
integrating children’s rights into impact assessments andtaking action for children. UNICEF and the Danish Institutefor Human Rights, 2013: https://www.unicef.org/csr/css/
Children_s_Rights_in_Impact_Assessments_Web_161213.pdf•• UNICEF’s publication, Children’s Rights and Business
Principles (https://www.unicef.org/csr/css/
PRINCIPLES_23_02_12_FINAL_FOR_PRINTER.pdf).

By others•• Center for Children’s Rights and Corporate Social
Responsibility (CCRCSR). Best Response: Auditors’ Insights
on Child Labor in Asia. 2016. http://ccrcsr.com/resource/548•• Center for Children’s Rights and Corporate Social
Responsibility (CCRCSR). Child Labor Remediation Resource
Platform. 2016. http://ccrcsr.com/news/ccr-csr-launcheschild-labor-remediation-resource-platform-free-workinggroup-members•• Child Labour Platform and the Sustainable Trade Initiative(IDH). Good Practice Notes. With recommendations forcompanies (2014). At http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/
download.do?type=document&id=25835•• Children and Young Workers What does it mean? Sedex
briefing at http://www.sedexglobal.com/wp-content/
uploads/2012/03/Children_9-March-2012-v10_FINAL.pdf•• ETI Base Code Guidance: Living Wages: http://www.
ethicaltrade.org/resources/base-code-guidance-living-wages•• ETI Human Rights Due Diligence Framework: http://www.
ethicaltrade.org/resources/human-rights-due-diligenceframework•• ETI Homeworker guidelines: http://www.ethicaltrade.org/
resources/homeworker-project-resource-downloads•• Global Child Forum (a Swedish non-profit foundation
which organises regional fora to find solutions for children,
including on issues involving companies). The website at
http://www.globalchildforum.org includes a Children’s
Rights and Business Atlas

30

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR•• Homeworkers Worldwide. Preventing Child Labour in
Home-based Crafts Production – A Practical Toolkit
for Businesses. At https://www.cips.org/Documents/
Knowledge/Procurement-Topics-and-Skills/4Sustainability-CSR-Ethics/Sustainable-and-EthicalProcurement/Preventing%20child%20labour%20
amongst%20homeworkers%20-%20Toolkit.pdf•• Impactt. Operational Procedures for Remediation of Child
Labour in Industrial Contexts. 2008. https://impacttlimited.
squarespace.com/clop/•• UTZ Guidance Document Child Labor (Version 1.0 - August2016): https://www.utz.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/
Child-labor-guidance-document-UTZ.pdf

C. Examples of codes or other standards adopted by business
Both trade associations and individual businesses have adopted and published the minimum standards that they expect their
suppliers to respect, often in the form of a code of conduct prohibiting child labour, which specifies what procedures to follow
if young workers are suspected to be working in ways that constitute child labour. One of the earliest to be developed (andupdated periodically) is:•• World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI).
WFSGI Code of Conduct. Guiding Principles. Approved by
the WFSGI General Assembly in January 2016. At http://
www.wfsgi.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/WFSGI%20
Code%20of%20Conduct%202016.pdf
To be meaningful, such codes need to be accompanied by averification procedure—otherwise they are little more thanadvertising.
In some countries, an employers’ association or tradeassociation has taken the initiative to introduce common
minimum standards, rather than relying on foreign retailers to
do so. It is good practice for such standards to be developed inconsultation with workers’ organisations and representativesof the communities concerned, although some employers
are reluctant to do so. One example that was developed inconsultation with the ILO and with trade unions focuses on
the agricultural sector:•• National Federation of Employers in Agriculture and the
Food Industry in the Republic of Moldova: Code of Conduct
for Employers on the Elimination of the Worst Forms ofChild Labour In Agriculture And The Food Industry in 2008
(available at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/
actemp/downloads/projects/code_conduct_en.pdf)
This covers issues such as: minimal employment age; durationof work per day (for young people entitled to work); durationof work per week; work during the night, days-off and official
holidays; other employer commitments including payment
for work, annual vacation, guarantees in cases of redundancy,
work environment issues and a guarantee that all workers
aged under 18 will be given a medical examination.

Some codes go beyond specifying what should not happen
and make more positive commitments to workers aged under
18. One developed relatively recently was adopted by an
employers’ organisation in Albania in 2015. The online versionof this code (Code of Conduct adopted by BIZNES ALBANIA
concerning the employment of workers aged less than 18)
is available only in Albanian (at http://www.biznesalbania.
org.al/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Final.pdf), so is partially
reproduced below, as the code starts with an employer’s pledge
to children and young people, which would be appropriate forbusinesses anywhere to replicate.
“We will provide decent work for young people who havereached the minimum age set by law for admission to fulltime employment. We will observe the requirements of thelaw, such as seeking the authorisation of the Government’s
Labour Inspectorate before hiring an employee aged under
18. We will recruit and employ young workers without
discrimination of any kind as to race, skin colour, sex, age,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth, disability or other status. We guaranteethat we will not involve young workers aged less than 18
in hazardous work or hazardous tasks, or let them work inhazardous conditions that could cause them harm. We will
ask workers aged 16 and 17 to work no more than 30 hours
a week, i.e. no more than six hours a day [for 5 days]. We
confirm that decent work means that young workers will not
be subjected to violence at work (either corporal punishment
or verbal abuse) by managers, supervisors or fellow workers.“

Example: ASOS Child Labour Policy
Having a child labour policy is important, and should
include specific commitments on remediation where achild has been found. ASOS has a policy in place, settingout its position and providing details on responsibilities,
protection of young workers as well as remediation. See
https://www.asosplc.com/~/media/Files/A/ASOS/reportsand-presentations/child-labour-policy.pdf

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

31

D. Research looking at prevalence in sectors and geographical spread
ILO reports:•• Marking progress against child labour: Global estimates and trends 2000–12, 2013. At http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/
public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf•• Children in hazardous work: What we know, What we need to do. ILO-IPEC, Geneva, 2011. At http://ilo.org/global/
publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/WCMS_155428/lang--en/index.htm
US Department of Labor (US DOL). List of Goods produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (website at https://www.dol.gov/ilab/
reports/child-labor/list-of-goods/). US DOL updates its reports every two years. It also maintains web pages with up-to-datenews of sectors where child labour has been reported (e.g. on India at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/india).
Academics have compiled detailed regional surveys on patterns of child labour, but these swiftly go out of date. For example, a
900-page lexicon was published in 2009: Hugh Hindman (ed.), The World of Child Labor: an historical and regional survey. M E
Sharpe, 2009. This is not available on-line, though parts can be read on Google Books at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_
MrfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR5&lpg=PR5&dq=Hugh+Hindman+(ed.),+The+World+of+Child+Labor:+an+historical+and+regional+
survey.&source=bl&ots=ogg3wIbwK_&sig=xAdwyLFIzB_r0vKtzw3tw6NZhqU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjp6uem99rSAhV
HJcAKHW0aDF8Q6AEIPzAG#v=onepage&q=Hugh%20Hindman%20(ed.)%2C%20The%20World%20of%20Child%20Labor%3A%20an%20historical%20and%20regional%20survey.&f=false

E. Ongoing initiatives in key sourcing destinations
Companies can consult various websites to find out what others are doing to address issues of child labour and other humanrights issues, both in general and in relevant sectors and countries, e.g. the Business and Human Rights Centre (https://businesshumanrights.org) or the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang-en/index.htm.

F. Ways in which business can support children’s rights in general
These are often corporate social responsibility initiatives which support broader social and economic development (which are
expected to have a medium-term effect of reducing child labour prevalence, rather that addressing the exploitation of children
in the workplace directly).
When large businesses become aware that child labour is a structural problem in communities where they are sourcing goods
or services (signifying that investment is needed in local infrastructure over many years), some have opted to cooperate withinternational organisations such as UNICEF to improve the lives of children by improving school and medical facilities, andinvesting in community development in general. The IKEA Foundation’s corporate partnership with UNICEF is one example.
Details are at https://www.unicef.org/corporate_partners/index_ikea.html and https://www.ikeafoundation.org/media/
video/8218. Corporate social responsibility initiatives of this sort go well beyond the legal obligations of a business to avoid
exploiting child labour but signal a determination to seek “whole community” solutions in a complex world.
Principle 10 of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (http://childrenandbusiness.org) calls on business to “Reinforce
community and government efforts to protect and fulfil children’s rights”. A specific way of doing this has been suggested
by Save the Children in a 2015 publication: Business and Children’s Participation: How business can create opportunities forchildren’s participation. Available at: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/business-and-childrens-participationhow-businesses-can-create-opportunities-childrens

G. Training resources
Although not all the online resources mentioned above have been prepared with training in mind, most are appropriate fortraining purposes. The ILO and UNICEF have developed some dedicated training materials. The ILO’s training materials areintended primarily for labour inspectors and other officials and are found at: http://ilo.org/ipec/Action/Childlabourmonitoring/
Trainingmaterials/lang--en/index.htm. The ILO has also prepared a video about child labour in supply chains, at: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=2z_ubdfLmFA

32

Base code guidance: CHILD LABOUR

ETI/V1/07/17

The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is a leading alliance of companies,
trade unions and NGOs that promotes respect for workers’ rights
around the globe. Our vision is a world where all workers are free from
exploitation and discrimination, and enjoy conditions of freedom,security and equity.

Ethical Trading Initiative
8 Coldbath Square London
EC1R 5HL
UK+44 (0)20 7841 4350
eti@eti.org.uk@ethicaltrade
ethicaltrade.org