Child Rights Not Just About Child Labour, But Also Wholesome Development: Thangaperumal Ponpandi, Country Manager, Terre des Hommes

During a session called “Business and Rights of Child” at the India and Sustainability Standards 2017 conference, co-hosted by Terre des Hommes (TdH)- Netherlands, issues related to child labour in the supply chain of businesses were discussed. Child labour in the supply chain is increasingly becoming a concern for companies and is seen as inconsistent with company values, a threat to their image and ability to recruit and retain top employees, as well as to the sustainability of their supply chain. The Social Dialogue Section of ILO supports businesses’ efforts to reduce child labour and to increase compliance with the ILO’s child labour standards. UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is used as a tool for business to ensure that they respect children’s right to be free from child labour, as enshrined in ILO Conventions.

Child labour is the manifestation of multiple violations of the rights of children. Poverty, lack of access to health care, nutrition, education and lack of awareness contributes directly in pushing the children to the labour force and make them vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and make communities use early marriage as a destitute resort. The objective of the session was to develop an understanding on multiple violations of rights of the children, to identify internal and external challenges in addressing child right issues in mica mining areas, and to buy-in commitment from corporate bodies to address the child right issue as their corporate social responsibility.

In the welcome and introduction, Thangaperumal Ponpandi, Country Manager, India, Terre des Hommes, said, “We are in a world in which child exploitation should not be tolerated. Terre des Hommes is working actively towards ensuring the safety and guarantee of rights for children. It’s not about just child labour, it’s about the wholesome development of a child, and businesses can play a big role in that. And there are many positive models to take this forward. We believe in partnerships at the grass-root level and we assist partners in the areas they lack”. The TdH multi-stakeholder approach to address the issue of child exploitation was also discussed.

Aysel Sabahoglu, a Children’s Rights Officer at Terres des Hommes, said, “We try to commit the government and private sector towards SDGs, especially SDG 8.7, about abolishing child labour. There are frameworks for responsible supply chain management, with OECD Guidelines, which are non-binding principles and standards for responsible business conduct in a global context, and OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk area. Human rights due diligence is an ongoing risk management process that should include assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses and communications of how the impacts are addressed.” She also added, “United Nations Guiding Principles of 2011 provide guidance for states and businesses to prevent and address human rights harms. Children’s rights are not just about child rights, but enabling communities and families to take care of their children. Access to remedy is the last pillar of the UNGP, it’s not just about legal remedy- it’s about social remedy, for both judicial and non-judicial, for victims of business-related human rights issues.”

“As an organization, we have been trying to stretch the subject of sustainability and make it more aligned with the work we do. The word sustainability has been made into an elite kind of a subject, and the social part of sustainability is very important. There are umpteen examples of how businesses have not been able to protect and preserve the rights of the child. There are possibilities and opportunities of how businesses and stakeholders deal with children’s issue, our aim is to identify them. “, said Rijit Sengupta, Chief Operating Officer, Centre for Responsible Business.

Dr. Ravi Purewal, Executive Director of Sports Goods Foundation of India spoke about the role of private sector in ensuring the rights of children and the efforts taken by the organization in identifying how many children are there in the industry, and how to rehabilitate them. “We are doing 8 projects for the welfare of the industrial workers, going beyond the sports sector. We are providing free education, uniform and books to children”, he said.  

 “It’s important to start a dialogue process. We have engaged many supply chain actors across Rajasthan to start capacity building programs. Once you have the problem on the table, there can be cross-learning and exchange of ideas to solve this issue”, said Ambuj Kishore, Programmes Director at Aravali. Ravi Kumar Agarwal, Deputy Director at Icco, said, “How do we approach and involve corporates and involve local industry association is the question. Our approach is a dialogue process, where we move forward”. There was also a discussion on the challenges in ensuring quality education for 3 to 18 years of age children, and the role of private sector. The potential of collaborating with private sector to address health and nutrition issue of children was discussed, along with the potential of collaborating with private sector to strengthen institutional mechanisms to protect children in India from abuse and exploitation and there was also discussion on the case of ethical business with respect to human rights and proactive measures to promote child rights by the business sector.

Needless to mention that poverty at the household level and their inability to access welfare schemes of the government act as a barrier for family’s ability to look after the wellbeing of the children. Illiteracy and lack of education and training, low wage, unfair working conditions, uncertain income, indebtedness and alcoholism make the family live in the vicious cycle of poverty. It challenges them to discharge their responsibilities as a duty bearer for the child, to enjoy the rights to live and grow in a decent environment.

Anurit Kanti

BW Reporters The author is correspondent at BW Businessworld, he has a keen interest in sustainability and environmental economics