Where is it easy for child laborers to "hide"?
According to the Guidelines for preventing and reducing child labor for businesses issued by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in coordination with the International Labor Organization (ILO), the supply chain includes the entire process from the supply of raw materials, production, processing, transportation to distribution of products or services.
In reality, many businesses only control workers at their factories or direct production facilities, while the risk of child labor often arises in the " chains" behind such as subcontractors, outside processing facilities, small-scale production households and informal economic areas.
Analyzing this risk, Ms. Tran Thi Hong Lien, Deputy Director of the Office of Ethnic Minorities and Employers, Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that the nature of the multi-layered supply chain makes controlling child labor complicated.
We can be the enterprise that produces the final product, but the input materials come from many different enterprises. In Vietnam, in industries such as exported agriculture or aquaculture, businesses still have to rely on farmers' households and fishing boats. The risk of having children participate in this process is completely possible, Ms. Hong Lien analyzed.
According to her, even if businesses do not directly use child labor at the factory, controlling the entire supply chain is still a big challenge, especially for chains with the participation of the informal sector.
Not using it directly can still be responsible
A fairly common misconception today is that businesses are only responsible for directly employing child labor. In fact, in the supply chains serving the export market, the responsibility of businesses does not stop at the "factory gate".
Brands, international partners and consumers are increasingly demanding responsible labor. If child labor exists at any stage in the supply chain, businesses can still be considered a chain of responsibility, facing the risk of losing orders and losing export markets.
According to Ms. Tran Thi Hong Lien, one of the key difficulties today lies in the awareness of a part of the enterprise: Not all enterprises really see the importance of not using child labor. Sometimes, they think that to fully comply with the conditions, it will cost a relatively large amount of money.
In the context of increasing profit pressure, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, many cases still prioritize short-term benefits instead of investing in long-term compliance measures. However, it is this trade-off that poses greater risks to legality, finance and reputation.
Business risks and sustainable development problems
Allowing child labor to survive in the supply chain can cause businesses to face a series of consequences: administrative sanctions, loss of contracts, and even exclusion from global supply chains.
More worryingly, damage to reputation and brands is often a long-term and hard-to-overcome consequences. In the era of information transparency, just negative information related to child labor can quickly spread, causing a media crisis and undermining the confidence of consumers, partners and investors.
From the perspective of sustainable development, the use of child labor - whether directly or indirectly - goes against ESG standards that are increasingly becoming an agreement for businesses when participating in international markets.
Early recognition of the risks of child labor in the supply chain is therefore not only an ethical issue, but a strategic requirement, deciding the long-term survival and development of the business.
Child labor in the supply chain is not only a social problem, but a real business risk. A violating link can cause a business to lose its contract, lose its market and exchange for many years of accumulated reputation.
