How to Stop Child Labor and its Potential Existence in the Future

There is no place for child labor in society,” says International Labor Organization Director-General, Guy Ryder.[1] So, how do you stop child labor and what does the elimination of child labor scorecard look like?

Consider that the ILO has been working for the abolition of child labor for an entire century, yet 218 million children are still laborers around the globe.

David Batstone of the Not for Sale Campaign, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to eliminating the exploitation of children, summed up global progress in reducing child labor, admitting, “We haven’t solved anything.”[2]

Unfortunately, Batstone is correct. Studies continue to come to a common understanding that child labor is not merely a social or human rights issue. Those are labels put on what is obviously and primarily an economic issue.


Child Labor in Supply Chains

Actions are now being taken to address child labor as a supply chain matter for purveyors of consumer and commercial products. Unfortunately, American companies have contributed to the proliferation of child labor by outsourcing products and components to businesses in emerging economies. The American companies are not to blame for whom their subcontractors employ. They can, however, attempt to ensure that subcontractors do not employ children.

Highly successful American-based companies have learned that actively monitoring manufacturing partners “for violations of labor, environmental, and safety” can hurt their own business severely. Withholding, shifting or canceling orders with businesses that employ child labor create irresolvable delays and higher costs.[3]

Human Rights Watch reported in July 2020 that the ministers of the European Union have found that attempts to pass legislation to eliminate child labor are faring just as poorly as expecting voluntary cooperation from businesses. They have learned that it is one thing to expect respect for children’s rights as a matter of company policy and corporate human rights due diligence, and quite another thing to gain it.[4]


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