2024 UN RBHR Forum: Join our session on innovative tools and approaches to end child labour – News

Join us for an exclusive side session on child labor tools and approaches during the UN Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum 2024 in Bangkok on September 24. “Innovative tools and approaches for businesses and civil society to effectively address child labour and sexual exploitation”This joint session brings together seven organizations with expertise in preventing and addressing child labor, ending child sexual exploitation and abuse, children’s rights, and human rights due diligence regulations. Together, we invite participants to discuss how businesses, governments, NGOs, and trade unions can work together to implement holistic and scalable solutions, from human rights due diligence (HRDD)-compliant programs and tools to specialized victim support, so that all children have access to protection and redress, wherever risks and abuse occur.

Speakers:

Dr. Srida Tantaatipanit, Director of Thailand Hotline Foundation (representing Down to Zero Alliance in collaboration with ECPAT International)
Marco Dubelt, Senior Director, The Global March Against Child Labour
Riri Siti O. Malikah, Director of Services – Asia, The Centre for Child Rights and Business (representing the MY Voice Initiative in partnership with Social Accountability International)
Archana Kotecha, Founder and CEO of The Remedy Project

Moderator: Ines Kaempfer, CEO, Center for Children’s Rights and Business

Child labour remains a widespread problem across all sectors, particularly in lower tiers of supply chains and informal working conditions in the Asia Pacific region. Furthermore, the growing risks to children extend beyond traditional supply chains, with the rise of digital platforms and technology enabling new forms of exploitation, such as human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The reach and accessibility of traditional Organisational Grievance Mechanisms (OGMs) at lower levels of supply chains are limited and not necessarily tailored to the needs of children. Coordinated, multi-stakeholder approaches are needed to dismantle the barriers that prevent child victims from accessing remedies that are in their best interest. In this context, community-based mechanisms, including practical on-the-ground programmes and Child Labour Monitoring Systems (CLMS), can play a crucial role in detecting and addressing child labour, and providing a pathway to effective remedies.

This joint session brings together four organizations with expertise in preventing and remedying child labor, ending child sexual exploitation and abuse, children’s rights, and human rights due diligence regulations. Together, it invites participants to discuss how businesses, governments, NGOs and trade unions can work together to implement holistic and scalable solutions, from human rights due diligence (HRDD)-compliant programs and tools to specialized support for victims, so that all children have access to protection and remedies, wherever risks and abuses occur.

What you will learn

Key challenges and opportunities in using current complaint and child labour monitoring systems, and how they can be improved to provide vulnerable children with better access to remedies.
How changing regulations are affecting the effectiveness of child-centred approaches to recovery, and what actions are needed to ensure these frameworks prioritise the best interests of children and create real impact
How community and sector-wide mechanisms can be scaled to address child labour and exploitation in supply chains. And existing opportunities for scaling innovations under new HRDD legislation.
How partnerships between governments, businesses, NGOs and trade unions, SMEs and communities can be strengthened to improve the implementation of existing programmes and instruments to combat child labour, sexual exploitation and human trafficking in the corporate sector.

The session will start with a poll and a 10-minute Ignite session, with quick, visually compelling presentations to warm up the audience and set the context. This will be followed by a 60-minute panel discussion with expert insights on ending child labor and sexual exploitation, with 10 minutes set aside for Q&A to address questions from the audience. The session will conclude with a participatory activity where participants share feedback and insights on whiteboards. The session will close with a 10-minute presentation of each whiteboard and a short summary of the key takeaways.