The U.S. Department of Labour has granted USD 2,000,000 to support a project on addressing child and forced labour in coffee supply chains in Honduras, contributing to the U.S. Government’s efforts to advance respect for human rights among businesses.

The United States is the second largest market in the world for Honduran coffee. But before that coffee reaches our cups, over one million Hondurans select, pick and process the beans. Many workers are children – toiling in the fields instead of learning in school.

There are nearly 158,000 children engaged in child labour in Honduras, and more work in agriculture than in any other sector. Honduran coffee production relies largely on family–based labour, and in many communities very little is known about the negative consequences of child labour, exploitative labour and unsafe working conditions. Efforts to reduce child labour in the Honduran coffee sector must address several factors, such as limited enforcement of labour laws and limited access to educational opportunities.

This project will help businesses establish systems to prevent, detect and eliminate child labour and other forms of labour exploitation from their supply chains, and will assemble a powerful coalition of coffee buyers to collectively incentivize compliance among suppliers. In doing so, the project will help promote supply chains free of exploitative labour and a fair playing field for workers in the U.S. and around the world.

The project will facilitate sustained, sector-wide change in labour practices through an integrated strategy. It will develop and pilot innovative social compliance tools that help businesses reduce child labour, forced labour and unacceptable working conditions in business operations and supply chains. By adopting these tools, businesses will be better able to implement social compliance systems that can prevent, detect and eliminate egregious labour abuses.

A key aspect of the proposed strategy is assembling a powerful coalition of coffee buyers that can collectively exert leverage over suppliers, communicate common expectations and provide suppliers with the resources, frameworks, guidance, tools and trainings needed to eradicate forced labour, child labour and wage, hour and health and safety violations from their supply chains.

Project Duration: December 2017 – December 2020
Grantee: International Labour Organization (ILO)

Click here to find out more about the work of the Bureau of International Labour Affairs.
More information on the project can be found here.

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

wp_template

wp_template_part

wp_global_styles

wp_navigation

wp_font_family

wp_font_face

acf-taxonomy

acf-post-type

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

exactmetrics_note

Behind the Screens: A Compilation of Case Studies and Learning about the Online Sexual Exploitation of Children
News & Analysis

End online sexual exploitation of children. Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) includes a range of in-person and online harms that were unimaginable before the digital age. In fact, the trafficking of children to create new child sexual e...Read More

Responsible Business Conduct in Times of War: Implications For Essential Goods and Services Providers in Ukraine
News & AnalysisGuidanceStandards & Codes of Conduct

Access to essential goods and services during war is critical. In many cases, people’s lives depend on it. The subject introduces many complex questions. What goods and services are essential in the war? Is it the exclusive responsibility of the s...Read More

TAGS: Europe
Overview of Live Modern Slavery Investigations in UK Policing
News & Analysis

This update provides a monthly overview of live police investigations being undertaken by police/ ROCUs across the UK, including PSNI and Police Scotland. This only includes those investigations that the Modern Slavery Insight Team have been made aw...Read More

TAGS: Europe
The impact of COVID-19 on modern slavery in the United Kingdom
News & Analysis

The purpose of this study is to aid practitioners and researchers in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on modern slavery in the United Kingdom. This report seeks to highlight the key findings of a scoping study undertaken at St Mary’s Universit...Read More