Global Launch of “Ending Child Labour in Supply Chains" project

Background

The 2020 Child Labour Global Estimates indicate that for the first time in 20 years the absolute number of children in child labour has increased to 160 million of children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys. At the sectoral level, they revealed that child labour continues to be predominant in agriculture with 70 per cent of children in child labour (112 million), followed by 20 per cent in services (31.4 million), and 10 per cent in industry (16.5 million).

Coffee cultivation worldwide provides livelihoods for 20-25 million farming families and engages over 100 million people in the production and processing countries. Coffee production is the fourth sector in the world with the most child labour listing by number of countries, only after gold, bricks and sugarcane (USDOL 2021). The causes of child labour in the coffee supply chain are multi-dimensional and complex. Despite a multiplication of due diligence related initiatives, child labour continues to be a salient human rights risk for many businesses, in part because of approaches focusing exclusively on monitoring children in workplaces, rather than on tackling the root causes of the problem.

With the support of the European Union, the International Labour Organization (ILO), as the lead agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have joined hands to address the root causes of child labour in the coffee supply in Honduras, Uganda, and Viet Nam through an integrated and area-based approach.

Launch

The official global launch of the “Ending Child Labour in Supply Chains” project will take place during the Europe’s World of Coffee event, a major coffee specialty trade show, which is organized in Copenhagen, Denmark, from June 27th until June 29th of 2024. Launching the project during this event will provide maximum visibility of the program among key coffee industry players and global coffee platforms.

The purpose of the launch is to present the joint project’s objectives and expected results, and to exchange and enlarge partnerships with the broader coffee industry on the issue of child labour and decent work in the coffee supply chain. Organizing the launch during the World of Coffee will provide a unique opportunity to present the program’s integrated and area-based model to eliminate child labour in the coffee supply chain to the coffee industry and global coffee stakeholders, and to bring in the issue of child labour to the centre of the debate on human rights due diligence that is currently at the top of many industry players’ agendas.

Panel discussions on child labour and decent work, and on responsible business conduct in the coffee supply chain will take place, bringing together stakeholders from governments, international organizations, private sector and civil society.

Confirmed speakers include leading experts in the coffee sector, ensuring a comprehensive and informative session. The launch provides a unique opportunity to learn more about this innovative inter-agency project and to learn about good practices and approaches to prevent and eliminate child labour in the coffee supply chain.

Participation

You can participate in person by joining us in meeting room 5 of the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 28th 2024, starting at 10:00am (CET).

You can follow the event in ilo.live.  

Welcoming package

The project team has curated a selection of key resources that illustrate the challenge of child labour globally and provide actionable guidance and practical tools to support industry stakeholders in conducting due diligence on child labour and other human rights in their supply chains. 

We invite you to explore these resources and to join us in developing sustainable solutions for the elimination of child labour in the coffee sector.