Created in partnership with the Helpdesk on Business & Human Rights

Further Guidance

Examples of further guidance on child labour include:

  • United Nations Global Compact, The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact: The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact provide universal guidance for sustainable business in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. Principle 5 calls on businesses to uphold the elimination of child labour.
  • United Nations Global Compact, Business: It’s Time to Act: Decent Work, Modern Slavery & Child Labour: This brief guide offers an overview of the steps businesses can take to help eliminate child labour while highlighting key resources, initiatives and engagement opportunities to support business action.
  • ILO, COVID-19 and Child Labour: A Time of Crisis, a Time to Act: This report outlines the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on child labour trends.
  • ILO, Understanding the Health Impact of Children’s Work: This study brings together information from a wide variety of nationally representative household surveys in an attempt to shed additional light on the health effects of children’s work within and across less-industrialized countries and on which types of children’s work pose the greatest risk of ill-health.
  • ILO, Towards the Urgent Elimination of Hazardous Child Labour: This report brings together and assesses new research on hazardous child labour and provides recommendations on prevention and protection.
  • ILO, Improving the Safety and Health of Young Workers: This report provides a definition of young workers and outlines factors threatening their safety and health.
  • ILO, Ending Child Labour, Forced Labour And Human Trafficking In Global Supply Chains: This report aims to help businesses develop policies and practices to prevent child labour in global supply chains.
  • ILO, OECD, IOM and UNICEF, Multi-Stakeholder Initiative on Ending Child Labour, Forced Labour and Human Trafficking in Global Supply Chains: This resource provides recommendations on responsible business conduct on labour and human rights, including developing due diligence on child labour.
  • ILO Helpdesk for Business, Country Information Hub: This resource can be used to inform human rights due diligence, providing specific country information on different labour rights.
  • UNICEF, UN Global Compact and Save the Children, Children’s Rights and Business Principles: The Principles (particularly 2, 3 and 4) guide companies on actions they can take to prevent child labour.
  • UNICEF and UN Global Compact, Children in Humanitarian Crises: What Business Can Do: A report on how business can help uphold children’s rights — including freedom from child labour — and support and promote their well-being during humanitarian crises.
  • UNICEF, Tool for Investors on Integrating Children’s Rights into ESG Assessment: This tool has been designed to guide investors on integrating children’s rights into the evaluation of ESG opportunities and performance of investee companies.
  • UNICEF, Mapping Child Labour Risks in Global Supply Chains: This paper provides a detailed analysis of the Apparel, Electronics and Agricultural Sectors. It was written as a background report for the Alliance 8.7 report on “Ending child labour, forced labour and human trafficking in global supply chains”.
  • UNICEF, Engaging Stakeholder’s on Children’s Rights: This tool offers guidance to companies on how to engage stakeholders on children’s rights to help enhance their standards and practices at both the corporate and site levels.
  • UNICEF, UN Global Compact and Save the Children, Children Introduce the Children’s Rights and Business Principles: This video features children from Panama teaching businesses about the Children’s Rights and Business Principles.
  • UNICEF, Child Rights and Security Handbook: This tool provides details on how to implement the Child Rights and Security Checklist – a checklist for companies to improve the protection of children’s rights within security programs.
  • Alliance 8.7, Delta 8.7 Knowledge Platform: A global knowledge platform providing resources on eradicating forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour.
  • Stop Child Labour, Handbook: 5×5 Stepping Stones for Creating Child Labour Free Zones: The stepping stones presented in this handbook are based on the stories and strategies of NGOs, unions and child labour free zone members worldwide. The handbook shows that — in spite of poverty — it is possible to get children out of work and into school.
  • SME Compass, Due Diligence Compass: This online tool offers guidance on the overall human rights due diligence process by taking businesses through five key due diligence phases.
  • SME Compass, Standards Compass: This online tool offers guidance on what to pay attention to when selecting sustainability standards or when participating in multi-stakeholder initiatives. It allows comparing standards and initiatives with respect to their contribution to human rights due diligence and their potential limitations.
  • SME Compass, Measuring and reporting on progress: This resource provides an overview of how to measure and report on the progress of the actions taken to address human rights impacts.
  • SME Compass, Downloads: Practical guides and checklists are available for download on the SME compass website to embed due diligence processes, improve supply chain management and make mechanisms more effective.
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