World Day Against Child Labour 2021

On World Day Against Child Labour (12th June), we would like to highlight Fair Wear Foundation’s collaboration with GoodWeave International (GoodWeave) to stop and remediate child labour in global supply chains. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy’s Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) funds the joint project in Northern India to combat child labour. This is achieved through supply chain mapping and inspections down to small subcontractors, including home-based workers and prevention programmes that make education available to every child in the communities where we work.

GoodWeave’s mission is to stop child labour in global supply chains permanently. “No exploitation of child labour” is one of the Standards of Fair Wear’s Codes of Labour Practices. The RVO project, launched in August 2019, supports both organisations’ goal to identify and remediate child labour in global supply chains, in particular focusing on activities surrounding apparel embellishment and those carried out by home-based workers in Northern India. Informal and opaque apparel supply chains are host to child labour violations that happen despite factory auditing mechanisms. GoodWeave’s approach brings visibility to workers, addresses root causes of child labour, and works with brands to integrate best practice to protect workers and children in home-based settings.

As the COVID-19 pandemic started, the project shifted some of its focus to emergency support for workers and family members. One of the biggest advantages GoodWeave has is the presence of field teams in communities and near supply chains.

Similarly, Fair Wear moved most of its meetings with brands and suppliers online, adapting to the changing environment during the pandemic.

Highlights from the Fair Wear x GoodWeave project as of March 2021:

• Reached 5,860 at-risk children from apparel-producing communities and enrolled 323 out-of-school children in school.
• Reached and served 5,263 workers with financial literacy, support to establish a bank account for electronic payment of wages, literacy classes and free vision screening.

Watch GoodWeave’s inspirational new film: “Fashion’s Hidden Supply Chain” to learn about Muskaan, a 13-year-old girl and former child labourer, discovered by GoodWeave inspectors while working in a home-based, outsourced apparel supply chain in India.

Photo Credit: The Studio_M – thestudiom.com