Issue: Child Labour Industry: Agriculture Country: Guatemala

Zero Tolerance Success Stories: Addressing Child LabourA series of stories highlighting Zero Tolerance issues that became a catalyst for continuous improvement

THE CONTEXTAt least 5.7 million children across Latin America are performing jobs they shouldn’t be, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). Guatemala is a signatory of the ILO Convention on Child Labour, which sets a minimum age of 14 for general work and 12 for ‘light work’. Light is defined as any work that is not likely to be harmful to the health or development of the child and does not prejudice their schooling. It is not uncommon for Guatemalan children to support their families through this type of work.

The producer in this Zero Tolerance Story has been receiving BSCI audits since 2012 and has shown slow but steady progress in improving working conditions on its farm.

NOVEMBER 2015 – BSCI FULL AUDITThe auditor notices that children aged between 12 to 15-years-old are working on the farm, and the producer representative doesn’t have their identity documents or employment contracts to confirm their ages. The auditor also discovers that the children are not being sufficiently paid for their work.

AUDITOR’S JUDGEMENT ON SEVERITYThe producer hasn’t fulfilled its responsibility to thoroughly check who is working on its field. Although ‘light work’ in agriculture is accepted by the ILO Convention 138 and embedded in BSCI 2.0 Performance Area 8: No Child Labour, the auditor judged this a Zero Tolerance issue because such negligence could pose a high risk to the children.

REMEDIATION PROCESS

ZERO TOLERANCE ALERT

Following the BSCI Zero Tolerance Protocol, the auditor triggers an alert through the BSCI platform to inform all concerned BSCI participants and the FTA secretariat about the findings and severity of the case.

AD-HOC REMEDIATION GROUP

Within 72 hours from the auditors’ alert, the FTA secretariat organises a conference call with all concerned BSCI participants to define a remediation plan.

OUTCOME

After a detailed review, the case is no longer considered a Zero Tolerance issue. One of the BSCI participants visits the farm to conduct interviews with the identified children and their families. The participant discovers that the children only worked during school holidays and in groups with family members. All concerned participants agree that the remediation plan should take into consideration the economic and social realities of the country.

LESSONS LEARNED

1. EFFECTIVE RECORD KEEPING SYSTEM

To avoid misunderstandings, producers should keep records such as information on the parents and children, ID cards, and details of the schools where children are enrolled.

2. AWARENESS ABOUT ‘LIGHT WORK’

By adequately monitoring their producers, participants can help ensure that ‘light work’ is light in both duration and intensity and does not prevent children from going to school.

3. CULTURAL AWARENESS

Successful remediation takes into account cultural norms and the realities of different sectors.

BSCI AUDIT RATINGS

A Outstanding

B Good

C Acceptable

D Insufficient

E Unacceptable

Zero Tolerance

The Zero Tolerance Protocol helped identify that certain

procedures were missing to pro-actively guarantee that

everyone working on the farm had reached legal working

age. The implementation of this Protocol and the training

that came with it has created more awareness about

young workers and their rights.

BSCI producer

The audit and consequent analysis because of the Zero

Tolerance Protocol created a lot of momentum to address

weaknesses in the farmer’s worker administration.

BSCI participant

The Zero Tolerance Protocol helped identify that certain

The audit and consequent analysis because of the Zero

young workers and their rights. young workers and their rights.

Story 3 - Addressing Child Labour - August 2017

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