Global Accelerator Lab Project: Intensifying Action Against Forced Labor and Child Labor
Print
ILAB’s Global Accelerator Lab project will support broader and more effective action under Alliance 8.7, a global partnership to assist United Nations (UN) member States to end child labor, forced labor, human trafficking and modern slavery by 2030.
The project will strengthen Alliance 8.7 partnerships to increase knowledge sharing among Pathfinder countries at the global level. It will facilitate dialogue on forced labor and child labor among regional institutions in East Asia & the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa and encourage regional and country ownership of initiatives to reduce child and forced labor. In addition, the project will support countries to achieve their commitments to eradicate child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, and modern slavery, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ Target 8.7, by helping countries replicate promising practices and identify and implement new solutions.
The Problem
More than 40 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery and forced labor, including those trafficked for work and sexual exploitation and those forced to work in jobs under threat of penalty. Women and girls are disproportionately affected, accounting for 71% of the overall victims.
In addition, 160 million children are victims of child labor; nearly half of them, 79 million, labor in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development. Nearly 7 out of 10 child laborers work in agriculture, and roughly 1 out of 10 work in the industrial sector, including mining. More than half of the world’s child laborers (86.6 million) live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some 26.3 million child laborers are in Central and Southern Asia; 24.3 million are in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia; 10.1 million are in Northern Africa and Western Asia; and 8.2 million are in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The COVID-19 crisis threatens to jeopardize global progress against child labor and forced labor. The ILO estimates that the equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost because of the crisis in the second quarter of 2020, and 8.9 million more children will be in child labor by the end of 2022 due to rising poverty from the pandemic.
Our Strategy
ILAB’s Global Accelerator Lab project will address child labor and forced labor at the global, regional, and country levels. The project will deploy innovative solutions to improve due diligence and transparency in supply chains, strengthen workers’ voice, and increase access to social protections.
At the global level, the project will strengthen partnerships and knowledge sharing among governments, social partners and Alliance 8.7 partners to reduce forced labor and child labor in sectors with a high prevalence of these abuses. The project will also assist Alliance 8.7 pathfinder countries or interested candidates to take concrete actions toward establishing sustainable partnerships to reduce child labor and forced labor. The project will share lessons learned from these activities through a global digital platform where countries and stakeholders can openly share their knowledge and effective practices.
At the regional level, the project will assist regional institutions to facilitate dialogue among target countries on child labor and forced labor and support countries in the region to implement and own initiatives to reduce the prevalence of these abuses. The project also will support regional exchanges of good practices on due diligence between businesses and other key stakeholders.
At the country level, the project will work with selected Alliance 8.7 pathfinder countries and interested candidates (Ghana, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Somalia) to implement innovative measures to reduce child labor and forced labor. In this work, the project will support the extension of social protection coverage to vulnerable households, and improve worker voice in target countries. The project will also support trade unions to better organize workers in the informal economy, strengthen worker voice, and expand their services, in particular to informal workers.
Read the ILO's story, Tackling child labour in Africa through national capacity building.
Read the ILO's Press Release.
Results
GALAB RESULTS
(Period of Performance April 2023 - April 2024)
The project supported several countries in their efforts to combat child labor, with a focus on preparing and refining roadmaps. Eight countries, including Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Malawi, Sri Lanka, and Türkiye, received assistance. At the 18th Global Coordination Group meeting, five countries presented their roadmaps, with Benin, the Central African Republic, and Türkiye achieving Pathfinder Country status. The project also helped Malawi and Sri Lanka finalize their roadmaps in line with the Pathfinder Country Accountability Framework, showcasing a growing international commitment to addressing child labor issues.
Regional Meetings:
The project facilitated two major regional meetings on child labor and forced labor:
- The Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting in Bangkok (March 2024) brought together delegates from 17 countries, UN agencies, and civil society organizations to reinvigorate post-pandemic collaboration and share knowledge on eliminating child and forced labor.
- The IX Annual RILAC Meeting in Lima (October 2023) gathered representatives from 31 countries, including labor ministries and regional employer and trade union organizations. Eight countries presented their National Action Plans to accelerate the prevention and elimination of child labor.
- These high-level events aimed to enhance international cooperation, build technical capacities, and foster knowledge exchange to combat child and forced labor across multiple regions.
AFRICA REGIONAL: The project conducted workshops in Ghana and Nigeria to enhance understanding of child labor and forced labor issues among government officials and stakeholders. In Ghana, the project trained labor officers and statisticians on child labor indicators and data collection strategies. In Nigeria's Ondo State, the project provided statistical training to a diverse group of government and civil society representatives, focusing on incorporating child labor and social protection data into state surveys. These initiatives aimed to strengthen partnerships, improve monitoring capabilities, and contribute to the elimination of child labor in both countries.
The project provided technical training on child labor data collection and analysis to National Statistical Office (NSOs) staff in 44 African countries. Participants learned fundamental concepts and international standards and definitions related to child labor. Participants also learned how to identify pertinent laws governing child labor within their country such as working age limits, prohibited occupations and industries, and working conditions for children. NSOs also gained skills on ways to integrate legal definitions on child labor into their data collection procedures to ensure accuracy and compliance with child labor statistics reporting. NSOs are now better equipped to engage with Ministries of Labor and other stakeholders responsible for labor related legislation, regulation, oversight, and child labor reporting. As a result of training, the following countries took concrete steps to modify, enhance or develop new tools that will further fill gaps in addressing child labor.
- Training in Ethiopia in English: Strengthening Africa's capacity to tackle child labor and domestic work through data analysis
- Training in Cote d’Ivoire in French: Collecte et analyse des données sur le travail des enfants : l'OIT renforce les capacités des pays africains
RILAC - COSTA RICA & THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: The project led a face-to-face exchange between the Ministries of Labor of Costa Rica and Dominican Republic on child labor issues. Participants included the Vice Minister of Vulnerable Groups and the Director of Labor Inspection, on behalf of Dominican Republic, and participants from Costa Rica included the Vice Minister of Labor, the Director of Labor Inspection, the Director of Social Security, and technical staff of the Office for the Attention of Child Labor and Protection of Adolescent Workers (OATIA). As a result of this engagement, the project provided technical inputs into a proposal for the Minister of Labor of Dominican Republic to improve the governance and strengthen the institutional capacity of the Direction for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labor. The proposal also included recommendations on strategic actions for the elimination of child labor within the Dominican Republic. As a result of these engagements and presentation of the proposal, the DR Minister requested further support for technical assistance to develop a legislative proposal to create a cash transfer for children in situations of child labor, and to develop a strategy to declare municipalities free of child labor.
MEXICO: The project, in coordination with the ILOs Global Business Network on Forced Labor (GBNFL) and the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of the United Mexican States (CONCAMIN), hosted a country briefing and technical workshop to train 70 employers in Mexico on forced labor and its connection to unfair recruitment. The country briefing focused on sharing updates in the legal and policy environment in Mexico as well as challenges and opportunities for employers. The country briefing was also an opportunity for the CONCAMIN to announce its membership to the network (ILO GBNFL).
- Grantee:
- International Labor Organization (ILO)
- Contact Information:
- globalkids@ilab.dol.gov / Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT)
- Tags:
- Child Labor
- Agriculture
- Awareness
- Capacity Building
- Cocoa
- Fishing
- Forced Labor
- Gold
- Granite
- Informal Sector
- Palm Oil
- Rice
- Supply Chains
- Use of Children in Armed Conflict
