HOW
TO HANDLE CHILD LABOR CASES BETTER Financial Guarantees
Clearly the foremost goal should be to prevent child labor , but as has been shown above there are great gaps in how child labor cases have been dealt with and there are surely better ways to handle it . From an auditor ’ s perspective , we looked at what was needed in terms of costs and support from brands ( or buyers ) and third-party “ organizations .
7
HOW
TO HANDLE CHILD LABOR CASES BETTER Financial Guarantees
Clearly the foremost goal should be to prevent child labor , but as has been shown above there are great gaps in how child labor cases have been dealt with and there are surely better ways to handle it . From an auditor ’ s perspective , we looked at what was needed in terms of costs and support from brands ( or buyers ) and third-party “ organizations .
As implied in the Figure 18 , if there is no budget in place for factories to take immediate action , it can lead to the possible failure of child labor remediation . Therefore , in order to start the remediation process without delays and to prevent the child from disappearing , there needs to be a specific budget to move the process forward . The majority of auditors ( more so in other countries than in China ) believe such a budget should include school fees and the child ’ s wages until he / she is of legal working age ( Figure 19 ).
“ The factory is supposed to support child ’ s education until he / she reaches 15 years of age . It includes school fees and living expenses , but no amount is specified , and it depends on the policy of the brand and the factory ” - an auditor from Vietnam .
According to the auditors from China , transportation costs for sending the child home and third-party follow-up are much more needed than in other countries .
Figure 19 :
Financial guarantees needed to take immediate action for a successful child labor remediation
80 70 60 50 40 |
71 %
42 %
|
80 %
68 %
|
64 %
75 %
|
52 %
46 %
33 % 35 %
|
Others
China
|
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
20 |
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
|
|
|
|
|
0 |
Transportation costs to send the child home |
School fees |
Child ’ s wages until he / she is of legal working age |
Costs of third-party follow-up |
Costs for temporary accommodation outside the factory |
19 Best Response : Auditors ’ Insights on Child Labor in Asia