Promoting Collaboration between Governments, Civil Society, and Businesses

ILAB works with governments, civil society, and businesses to ensure that each does its part to combat child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. ILAB's experience demonstrates that all of us need to play a meaningful and constructive role toward achieving genuine and sustainable progress.

 

Empowering Civil Society

ILAB helps empower civil society organizations to play a critical role in monitoring and responding to cases of child labor, forced labor and human trafficking. The often hidden and unlawful nature of these abuses makes it difficult to obtain accurate and objective information on the nature and magnitude of the problem in a particular country or sector. In addition, when information does exist, there is frequently a lack of independent verification and ways to disseminate the information, hold violators accountable, and monitor follow-up actions for victims.

Through its technical cooperation and direct engagement, ILAB strengthens and expands the ability and role of civil society to carry out key actions to address such abusive labor practices. ILAB funding has made it possible for civil society organizations to:

  • Carry out research on forced labor in high-risk industries, such as in electronics, to understand cases of labor exploitation and help spur industry commitments to tackle the issue in their supply chain;
  • Provide regular and ongoing monitoring and reporting of labor rights abuses, including child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking;
  • Advocate for effective action by governments and private sector actors to address child labor, forced labor and human trafficking; and
  • Assist victims of child labor, forced labor and human trafficking to access services.

 

Partnering with the Private Sector

ILAB's sustained, ongoing private sector engagement is helping companies confront persistent challenges in eliminating child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking in supply chains. Companies are increasingly looking to ILAB for assistance in pursuing risk-mitigation strategies. ILAB gives these firms the tools they need to understand relevant laws, regulations, and policies, and to model effective strategies for monitoring and remediation. For example, Comply Chain provides companies eight steps for developing a robust social compliance system for monitoring global supply chains.