Question Period Note: How is Canada working to prevent child labour internationally?

The Government is working with international partners to end all forms of child labour and promote responsible business practices.

• The Government of Canada is committed to eliminating child labour, a violation of children's rights that prevents them from realising their full potential.

• Internationally, Canada works with multi-stakeholder initiatives that promote human rights and responsible business practices such as due diligence frameworks that aim to identify, prevent and mitigate child and forced labour risks.

• Poverty and gender inequality are root causes of child labour. Canada is supporting projects in developing countries to advance child protection, education, women's economic empowerment and youth empowerment, which are key to preventing child labour.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), globally 152 million children between 5 and 17 years are victims of child labour; almost half, 73 million, work in hazardous child labour. Any work by a child that is hazardous or interferes with the child's education, or is harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, is considered "economic exploitation" and is a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 8.7 aims to eradicate forced labour, human trafficking and child labour, including the worst forms of child labour, notably recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Following up on the government response to the 19th Report of the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development entitled, A Call to Action: Ending the Use of all Forms of Child Labour in Supply Chains, the Government of Canada held in-person consultations on possible supply chain legislation in early Spring 2019 with key stakeholders and posted an online survey. Employment and Social Development Canada is now analyzing results from the consultations and online survey.

GAC's approach to addressing child labour is three-pronged: 1) investing in initiatives to prevent and protect children from child labour, including strengthening education, child protection and justice systems and preventing the unlawful recruitment of child soldiers; 2) addressing poverty and gender inequality, the root causes of child labour, through women's economic empowerment, social protection and youth employment; 3) supporting responsible business practices and working with organizations such as the UN, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the ILO, the G20 and the G7 to promote action to prevent goods that are produced using child and forced labour from entering our economies. For example, as a part of the new National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking, Canada will join Alliance 8.7, a global partnership focused on SDG target 8.7, including as a member of the Action Group on supply chains.

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