My first Magazine | Page 22

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 .

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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