News from ECLT Foundation

ECLT Foundation e-News May 2015

Making a Better Life for Children in Tobacco-Growing Communities

News From the Field

World Day for Safety and Health At Work 2015

April 28 marked World Day for Health and Safety at Work, a global day of commemoration and an opportunity to raise awareness of the heavy toll that occupational hazards, diseases and accidents take in terms of human lives worldwide.

Much like child labour, hazardous child labour is a complex problem that requires a multi-pronged approach. An important focus of the ECLT Foundation's key intervention programmes is the link between safe agriculture practices and the elimination of hazardous child labour in agriculture.

Aware of the critical role of tripartite and stakeholder dialogue, the ECLT Foundation is working to influence the development of good policy and practices at a local level, while seeking to facilitate critical stakeholder dialogue to address gaps in knowledge and evidence in the prevention and remediation of hazardous child labour in agriculture and tobacco growing.

Today at the ECLT Foundation

ECLT Foundation in Action

First African Union Specialized Technical Committee Meeting

On 20-22 April 2015, the ECLT Foundation attended the Experts' Meeting of the First African Union Specialized Technical Committee Meeting on Social Development, Labour and Employment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The ECLT Foundation represents critical areas for the realization of fundamental human and child rights where action and change by policy makers are urgently required and can make a huge difference in eliminating child labour in and beyond the agriculture sector.

The CLEAR project in Malawi focuses on the problems linked to lack of access to social protection for poor and informal economy households and the link between the establishment of effective, accessible social protection systems and the elimination of child labour. Village Saving and Loan Associations can help mitigate the lack of social protection in the country.

Global Progress to End Child Labour

UN Forum: Pillar I of UNGPs Invokes States' Duty to Protect

In December 2014, the ECLT Foundation attended the third annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights.

The forum focused on PIllar II, the role of businesses in implementing and respecting human rights. However, the UNGPs call upon Pillar I, which requires that states act to protect human rights in the following ways:

Prevent, investigate, prosecute, adjudicate and redress adverse human rights impacts perpetrated by third parties, including business
Inform, monitor and proactively take measures to prevent adverse human rights impact by non-state actors active in high-risk sectors

A key tool for the implementation of the UNGPs by states consists in the development of a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

Message from the Executive Director

Expert Meeting with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

I was invited to an expert meeting with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on April 2 in Geneva to participate in a panel on Partnerships and Cooperation in Eradicating Contemporary Forms of Slavery from Supply Chains.

The meeting brought together 20 participants representing a broad spectrum of stakeholders including international organisations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, trade unions, NGOs, investor groups and academics.

The panel in which I participated illustrated the complexity in agriculture and the informal economy. The contribution from the ECLT Foundation to the panel focused on the progress of joint ECLT Foundation and tobacco industry-wide initiatives to address child labour, and building an environment where children's human rights are respected in the areas where tobacco is grown.

Thank you for your support -
together we can make a better life for children in tobacco-growing communities!

ECLT Foundation
14 rue Jacques-Dalphin
1227 Carouge
Geneva, Switzerland
+41 22 306 14 44
www.eclt.org

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