Child Rights and Child Labour Risks in Global Supply Chains

This webinar provides an update on child labour and child rights risks in supply chains, including an update on child labour legislation and due diligence requirements. It present practical steps which companies can take to prevent and remediate child labour, strengthen child rights, and meet due diligence requirements.

About the webinar

Globally, child labour cases have risen to 160 million – the first increase in two decades. Many measures to tackle child labour and related human rights issues have so far been largely voluntary – but the proposed European Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence signals that more mandatory measures are on their way.

This webinar will provide an update on child labour and child rights risks in supply chains, including an update on child labour legislation and due diligence requirements. It will present practical steps which companies can take to prevent and remediate child labour, strengthen child rights, and meet due diligence requirements.

The webinar is organised by ETI Sweden, Save the Children Sweden and The Centre for Child Rights & Business.

Speakers

Mark Robertson is the Senior Vice President at the Centre for Child Rights & Business. He brings over 15 years of experience in sustainability and supply chain issues, working with business, investors, and not-for-profit organisations to drive improvements across environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Mark leads the delivery and development of The Centre’s services on child rights, and supporting businesses to improve their direct and indirect impact on children in global supply chains. Prior to joining The Centre, Mark was Senior Vice President at the ICTI Ethical Toy Program, Head of Communications at Sedex and has held positions at responsible investment research firm EIRIS Vigeo.

Eleni Georgiopoulou is the Corporate Responsibility Manager for ALDI South with over 10 years of experience in supply chain sustainability. For six years she worked as a CR manager at Li & Fung Ltd. in Hong Kong, one of the world’s largest supply change management companies. For the last three years she has been working for ALDI – initially in the ALDI CR department in Hong Kong – and since last year for the ALDI South CRI department in Austria. There, she is responsible for topics such as ALDI’s suppliers evaluation programme and capacity building programme – which is addressing key salient risks, such as child labour.

Claes Hamilton works as Senior Advisor for Save the Children, with the Child Rights and Business Global Hub. He has 10+ years of experience from working with Business and Human Rights, and have focused the majority of his time on integrating children’s rights and child protection into Business and Human Rights-processes and steers. Claes leads on Save the Children’s work on child labour and value chains, and represents Save the Children in several multi-stakeholder platforms that brings together industry, governments and CSOs on issues on development and children’s rights.

Henrik Lindholm is the executive director at Ethical Trading Initiative Sweden. He has 20 years of experience of human rights and working conditions in global supply chains. Over the years he has worked for Fair Wear, Nudie Jeans, Sandqvist as well done research on labour rights risks in textile supply chains at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Agenda

• Welcome & introduction
• Definitions & background:

– What is child labour
– What / where are the risks?
– Evolving risks from COVID-19 and other global factories

• Legal and due diligence requirements:

– Update on legal requirements on child labour, including recent developments
– OECD and UNGP requirements related to child labour and child rights

• Risk assessment and remediation:

– Strategies to understand risks in your own supply chain
– Company case study

• Audience Q&A

Contact

For questions about the event, please contact Emilie Schultze on emilie.schultze@etisverige.se. 

Photo: a girl in Myanmar who was formerly in child labour and is getting an education as part of a remediation programme. Credit: The Centre for Child Rights & Business.