Child Rights Risk Assessment in the Natural Fibre Sector in Indonesia and Vietnam

Photo: The Centre’s assessment team in Indonesia during the child rights risk assessment in 2019.

In 2019, The Centre for Child Rights and Business (“The Centre”) implemented a project to safeguard child rights in a client’s natural fibre supply chain in 2019.

From May to July 2019, The Centre conducted a child rights risk assessment at five raw material sites in the rattan and seagrass supply chains in Indonesia and Vietnam for client, with the objective to assess eight child right’s impact areas. The eight impact areas examined during the assessment were children’s involvement in natural fibre harvesting and processing, access to education, health and nutrition, maternity protection and breastfeeding, childcare, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), child protection, and parents’ working conditions. The assessment was also informed by the UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and OECD Due Diligence Guidance on Responsible Business Conduct.

Based on the assessment and taking reference to the international practices and national regulations, The Centre developed guidelines for children’s rights protection and promotion in the client’s natural fibres supply chain. The document aims to safeguard the best interest of children in natural fibre material sites, to go beyond the issue of child labour when promoting and protecting children’s rights, and to provide a clear set of processes to integrate children’s rights in the business operations.

As the final stage of the project, The Centre carried out capacity building activities including joint awareness training, training of trainers (TOT), and a community awareness-raising campaign that were tailored closely to the assessment result and guidelines.

Photo: The Centre’s assessment team speaking to workers as part of the child rights risk assessment in natural fibre production in rural Vietnam.