Optimizing compliance with child labour legislation through strategic collaboration of labour inspection and child labour monitoring programmes, Brief 1, January 2017

Labour inspectorates, together with other public institutions and in collaboration with social partners, have long been active in addressing child labour and its worst forms through the combined use of advisory and enforcement actions. Despite these efforts, child labour continues to be a concern worldwide and, in most countries, inspectorates could leverage the action of other relevant players, among which are child labour monitors. Whilst many good practices of collaboration are recognised, it is also true that the synergies of these two mechanisms are not well known and thus there is the potential to improve collaboration.

The Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health (LABADMIN/OSH) Branch together with the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch (FUNDAMENTALS) are pleased to publish a brief which offers guidance aimed at strengthening collaboration between national labour inspectorates and regional or community-based child labour monitoring (CLM) programmes.

It strives to provide information to promote effective coverage of undesirable, hard-to-reach child labour practices, frequently found in the informal economy. The brief also identifies and describes the distinct and complementary roles of labour inspectorates and CLM programmes, and suggests ways in which these organizations – as well as their partners in the public, private, and non-profit sectors – can work together to optimize efficiency and improve outcomes, examples of how this has been achieved are also documented.