GENEVA – This year, the focus for World Day Against Child Labour – marked on 12 June – is on child labour and supply chains. With 168 million children still in child labour, all supply chains, from agriculture to manufacturing, services to construction, run the risk that child labour may be present.

“Child labour has no place in well-functioning and well regulated markets, or in any supply chain. The message that we must act now to stop child labour once and for all has been affirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals. Acting together, it is within our means to make the future of work a future without child labour,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

To support businesses in their actions to remove child labour from their supply chains, the ILO and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) have jointly created the Child Labour Guidance Tool , a resource for companies to increase their knowledge and ability to conduct business in line with international labour standards on child labour.

The tool draws on the long experience of the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC) in collaborating with employers to combat child labour in supply chains and incorporates contributions from the a wide variety of companies including Coca-Cola Company, AngloGold Ashanti, Vale, Japan Tobacco and Sterling Manufacturing.

In addition, the ILO provides peer-to-peer best practice and knowledge sharing through the Child Labour Platform , which aims to identify the obstacles to the implementation of the ILO Conventions on child labour in supply chains, develop practical ways of overcoming these obstacles, and catalyse collective action.

Examples of good practise case studies of addressing child labour in supply chains are available here .

“With globalization, supply chains have become increasingly complex, involving workers, small producers, and enterprises around the world. Ending child labour in this context is everyone’s.business,” said Beate Andrees, Chief of the ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch.

World Day Events
The ILO is organizing a series of events on the occasion both in Geneva and throughout the world.

Geneva
A high-level event to mark the World Day will be held on 8 June 2016 in the Human Rights Council room of the Palais des Nations from 13:30 to 15:00. This event will take place during the 105th Session of the International Labour Conference .

The panel discussion will start at 2:00 p.m. and the panellists include:

Guy Ryder: Director-General, International Labour Organization
MaryAnn Mihychuk: Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, Canada
Jacqueline Mugo: Executive Director, Federation of Kenya Employers and Secretary General of Business Africa
Philip J. Jennings: General-Secretary, UNI Global Union.
Katharine Stewart: Director, Ethical Trade and Sustainability Division, Primark
Andrews Tagoe: Head of Program, Rural Workers, General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana and Anglophone African Coordinator for the Global March Against Child Labour,
Vicky Bowman: Director, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business
The panel discussion will be moderated by Nomia Iqbal from the BBC.

The Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina, Jorge Triaca, will make an announcement about the next Global Conference on Child Labour.

The panel discussion will be preceded by a musical performance by the “Choeur pour l’abolition du travail des enfants”, a group of artists and media professionals that joined together in 2013 to sensitize the public on the worst forms of child labour. The Group led by:

Guy Valery Constant NEZA, includes: Akissi Delphine LOUKOU (aka Akissi Delta), Ami Sarah BAMBA, Valley Ahou Manuella ETTE (aka Nuella), Odia Sidimé, Général Sead, Alain Amani GOLY (aka. Spyrow), Diarra Adama Dujiminika Koné (aka Jimmy James), Arthur Oswald Koya (aka Thura), Prisca Melaine Koffi (aka Prisk), and Dali Eva Christelle Kouko.

Their song “Mon enfant” is available on YouTube .

UN Geneva correspondents as well as ILC-accredited journalists are welcome to attend the event.

Globally
Over 30 events will be taking place around the world in support of the 2016 World Day Against Child Labour, including In New York hosted by UNICEF and in Rome hosted by FAO.

Musical concerts will also be performed around the world as part of the Music Against Child Labour Initiative (MACLI).

Website: http://www.ilo.org/caribbean