GRI 408: Child Labor 2016

Contains disclosures for organizations/companies to report information about their impacts related to child labour.

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Written by Robin Sigl
Updated over a week ago
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GRI 408: Child Labor 2016

Contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their impacts related to child labor, and how they manage these impacts 💥.

The Standard is structured as follows:

  • Section 1 contains a requirement, which provides information about how the organization manages its impacts related to child labor.

  • Section 2 contains one disclosure, which provides information about the organization’s impacts related to child labor.

  • The Glossary contains defined terms with a specific meaning when used in the GRI Standards. The terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to the definitions.

  • The Bibliography lists authoritative intergovernmental instruments used in developing this Standard.

The rest of the Introduction section provides a background on the topic, an overview of the system of GRI Standards, and further information on using this Standard.

Background on the topic

This Standard addresses the topic of child labor. Abolishing child labor is a key principle and objective of major human rights instruments and legislation, and is the subject of national legislation in almost all countries.

Child labor is work that ‘deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical or mental development including by interfering with their education. Specifically, it means types of work that are not permitted for children below the relevant minimum age.

Child labor does not refer to youth employment or to children working. It refers to a universally-recognised human rights abuse. The internationally agreed understanding of the meaning of child labor is set out in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138 ‘Minimum Age Convention’.

The minimum age for hazardous work is 18 years for all countries. Hazardous child labor is defined by Article 3 (d) of ILO Convention 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention as work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children.

Due diligence is expected of an organization in order to prevent the use of child labor in its activities. It is also expected to avoid contributing to or becoming complicit in, the use of child labour through its relationships with others (e.g., suppliers, clients).

These concepts are covered in key instruments of the ILO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the United Nations: see the Bibliography.

To learn more about GRI 408: Child Labor 2016, click the button below to download the complete version 👇.

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