June 2012
Out of work and into school
Action plan for companies
to combat child labour
Campaign 'Stop Child Labour'
Revised edition, June 2012
This Action Plan by Stop Child Labour builds on the varied experience of
companies,
trade unions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), multistakeholder
initiatives,
governments and international organisations. But it also builds on our own
experience and
firm conviction that all forms of child labour should be eliminated so all
children can enjoy
their right to education.
The approach outlined in this document has an added value by combining a
focus on:
- all forms of child labour (under the two ILO child labour conventions)
and its link with the
right to education, as the basis for corporate policies on child labour;
- the area-based approach leading to the creation of Child Labour Free
Zones based on the
experience of organisations in India and several African and Latin
American countries;
- due diligence and active engagement of companies in the supply chain
aimed at a
systematic, planned improvement, instead of immediately withdrawing orders
in case of
problems;
- explicitly combating child labour as part of the broader goal of
realising labour rights,
using the experience from the field of corporate responsibility and
accountability;
- engagement of companies with other stakeholders such as communities,
unions, NGOs,
governments, multi-stakeholder initiatives etc.
This document is primarily written for companies as well as
multi-stakeholder initiatives
that are working or intend to work on the elimination of child labour.
However, we think
this document is also useful for governments to (re)consider their
policies and regulations,
for NGOs to guide their action and engagement regarding company or
sector-related
activities and for international organisations to further specify their
policies on the subject
of child labour.
download here [, 1185 kB]
Voor een (oudere) Nederlandstalige versie van het actieplan tegen kinderarbeid ("Van Werk naar School - Handleiding voor bedrijven om kinderarbeid te bestrijden"), zie
hier [
, 1200 kB,
nov 2009].