Abstract

As a cohort of people, ‘children in work’ have become critical to the everyday functioning of diverse supply chain systems. This Working Paper considers diverse commodity chains (leather, waste, recycling and sex) to explore the business realities that generate child labour in its worst forms. A review of the literature finds that occurrence of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in supply chain systems is contingent on the organising logics and strategies adopted by actors in both the formal and informal economies. Piecing together the available evidence, the paper hypothesises that a supply chain system is sensitive to the use of WFCL when downward pressure to take on business risk cannot be matched by the economic resilience to absorb that risk. Emergencies and persistent stressors may increase risk and reduce resilience, shifting norms and behaviour. There is a need for further work to learn from business owners and workers in the informal economy.

Highlights

  • When children go to work, they usually serve a supply chain of some description

  • The depletion of natural environments increases the level of vulnerability within enslaved communities to further precarious work (Gold, Trautrims and Trodd 2015). It is the proximity of the informal economy to the formal economy that may itself be a driver of worst forms of child labour (WFCL)

  • This Working Paper has pieced together fragmented evidence from supply chain systems that enable the manufacture of products, the management of waste, and the trade of human beings in Asia

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

When children go to work, they usually serve a supply chain of some description. When looking across all the varied sectors in which children work, one can observe the diverse, dynamic, and evolving nature of supply chains. Through scoping studies in leather supply chains in Bangladesh, the fishing and waste recycling sectors in Myanmar, and the adult entertainment sector in Nepal, the Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme has begun to operate within the complex socioeconomic realities of supply chains. A high-level theory of change, which connects incidence of WFCL to informal spheres of supply chains This Working Paper pieces together available evidence about supply chains, the informal economy, and WFCL to map potential links and pathways between business realities and experiences and the prevalence of WFCL. It conceptualises a more detailed theory of change in the form of a systems map to inform the programme’s thematic research agenda

An interest in the supply chain system
A focus on the informal economy
A focus on child labour in its worst forms
Research questions
METHODS
Research activities
Limitations
Unseen instances of WFCL
The need for spatial and temporal analyses
MAKING SENSE OF SUPPLY CHAIN SYSTEMS
Two distinct organising logics
Important interdependencies
STRATEGIES AND BEHAVIOURS IN SUPPLY CHAIN SYSTEMS
The transfer of risk
The practice of subcontracting
The extension of credit
REDUCING THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
Standards and compliance approaches vs locally derived solutions
Working with business units and entrepreneurs
Area-based approaches
Findings
DISCUSSION
Full Text
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