SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth | SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Institutions: Government of Telangana | Ministry of Labour & Employment
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Government of Telangana have officially launched the Child Labour Platform (CL P) Programme in India, during the 16th Annual Meeting of the CLP in Hyderabad. The event, themed “From Policy to Impact: Leveraging Knowledge and Action to Prevent Child Labour and Promote Competitiveness in Supply Chains”, marks a decisive move to integrate corporate accountability and government action against child labour in global and domestic supply chains.
The CLP — co-chaired by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) — brings together governments, businesses and civil-society organisations to address child labour through evidence-based, area-specific action. With 138 million children still engaged in child labour worldwide, the new programme seeks to turn policy commitments into measurable outcomes by linking fair-recruitment, social protection and responsible business conduct.
Programme Focus: The India chapter will initially cover Telangana and Karnataka, targeting agricultural supply chains—coffee, cotton, spices and sugarcane—where child labour risks persist. It adopts an area-based approach focused on migrant-worker families, aiming to improve access to education, public services and social protection, and to build business capacity for due-diligence and ethical recruitment. The initiative aligns with India’s National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct, which mirror the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and core ILO conventions.
The Hyderabad meeting also showcased CLP’s global progress, including improved child-labour monitoring in Congo and Uganda and expanded social-insurance access in Côte d’Ivoire—signalling how shared learning across regions can accelerate India’s own action framework.
The programme strengthens India’s commitment to decent work and responsible business practices by tackling the root economic and social drivers of child labour in supply chains. It bridges national labour regulation with global trade ethics and aligns with India’s goals under Mission Shakti, Skill India, and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) to eliminate child labour through education, income security and social protection.
What is the Child Labour Platform (CL P)? → The Child Labour Platform is a global, multi-stakeholder forum led by businesses, employers’ organizations, and workers’ organizations, with the ILO serving as the Secretariat. Its purpose is to foster peer learning, collaboration, and collective action among companies to accelerate the elimination of child labour in supply chains globally.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How can India’s state-level labour reforms and corporate-due-diligence frameworks be scaled nationally to ensure that agricultural and manufacturing supply chains become completely child-labour-free?
Follow the full release here: ILO – Child Labour Platform Programme Launched in India