With 168 million children still in child labour, all supply chains, from agriculture to manufacturing, services to construction, run the risk that child labour may be present.

“Child labour has no place in well-functioning and well regulated markets, or in any supply chain. The message that we must act now to stop child labour once and for all has been affirmed by the Sustainable Development Goals. Acting together, it is within our means to make the future of work a future without child labour,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

To support businesses in their actions to remove child labour from their supply chains, the ILO and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) have jointly created the Child Labour Guidance Tool  a resource for companies to increase their knowledge and ability to conduct business in line with international labour standards on child labour.

The tool draws on the long experience of the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC) in collaborating with employers to combat child labour in supply chains and incorporates contributions from the a wide variety of companies including Coca-Cola Company, AngloGold Ashanti, Vale, Japan Tobacco and Sterling Manufacturing.