Child Rights Action Hub Officially Launched in Bangladesh

On May 20, 2024, the Child Rights Action Hub was officially launched in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This marks an important step in our collaborative efforts to prevent and remediate child labour at scale in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector, focusing on the lower tiers of supply chains.

The launch event brought together key stakeholders in the Bangladesh RMG industry to discuss how key players can collaborate to use the power of the RMG sector to create a better future for the children of Bangladesh. Various key stakeholders participated in the launch, including global buyers with ties to the apparel sector in supply chains in Bangladesh, as well as manufacturers, business associations and NGOs.

During the event, we highlighted:

• Why it's crucial to address child labour and how it's more common and severe in lower tiers

• How The Hub supports companies with human rights due diligence amidst increasingly stringent HRDD legislation

• How solutions to child labour risks in the RMG supply chain are possible and attainable, especially through multi-stakeholder collaboration

• How buyers, traders and suppliers are embracing collaborative approaches and benefitting from them

• Opportunities for collaborating with global brands, local suppliers, CSOs, the local government, etc.

Bangladesh, despite improvements in first-tier factories, faces significant child labour issues in lower tiers, where conditions are severe. Informal factories in Bangladesh pay lower wages, leading to cycles of poverty and poor working conditions.

Discussions during the launch event highlighted actionable strategies for preventing child labour, including:

• The need to tackle child labour collectively

• Implement fair purchasing and decent wage policies

• Create decent work opportunities for youth

• Enhance transparency and monitoring

• Commit to continuous improvement and remediation

“Collaboration is key to finding solutions. Pointing fingers gets us nowhere. We need to work together to find solutions that involve everyone,” said Ines Kaempfer, CEO of The Centre for Child Rights and Business.

We look forward to building on these discussions, accelerating collaboration, and ultimately creating positive change for children. The Action Hub’s goal is to tackle child labour prevention and remediation efforts on a large scale while promoting collaborative actions between brands and their suppliers to address child labour risks in Bangladesh’s RMG sector.