Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely, I think an increase in access to good-quality education will make a significant difference, as will social protection systems, in making sure that families have viable economic options for a livelihood. That's why we think a holistic approach is needed. We need to be

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's been in force from about the fall of 2015. We have the benefit of about a year and a half to two years of reporting under the U.K. legislation.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Not that I'm aware of, although I understand with the Australian legislation, they are planning a three-year review process once that legislation is eventually in place.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Really briefly, I'll just acknowledge that the Modern Slavery Act in its entirety is a very broad-reaching piece of legislation, so my comments are fairly specifically on the supply chain provisions, which are in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act. We think that for some degre

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  They're all linked. If we're talking about public scrutiny, I look to the U.K. and say that British companies have been under more scrutiny than Canadian companies. As to where that leaves companies to date—and I think that's changing—I can't really speak too well to the situatio

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think one of the key challenges around the U.K.'s Modern Slavery Act has been the lack of a central repository for company reports. I'm not sure if that's exactly the sort of data you talked about, but I think one of the ways that legislation could certainly be strengthened is

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I was going to briefly add that the options for companies, the actions they can take and the tools they can use to address child labour are actually quite endless. It's going to depend on the context. Fundamentally, though, the biggest challenge we have right now is a lack of op

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Really briefly, there's no perfect certification system. I think even fair trade acknowledges that buying fair trade doesn't certify completely that there's no child labour involved. It means they're taking proactive steps to try to reduce that likelihood. The beauty of supply ch

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We would often equate modern slavery with forced labour, again, forced labour of adults and children, because I think it denotes this most abhorrent, extreme form of labour rights violations. But as I said, I don't think that in any way minimizes the reality of the other 148 mill

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The increase has been an increase in the value of at-risk goods. As Michael said, our research has tried to gauge the extent to which there is risk of child labour, so by virtue of the fact that we're importing a higher value of goods that are at risk, the degree of a risk in tha

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's complex to be sure, but it's certainly linked to the global supply chains at the same time. Child labour most often manifests itself at that input level. You think of agriculture, in the cocoa industry, in coffee, and in picking cotton that ends up in the garment industry, b

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'll start at the highest level. The ILO estimates there are 218 million children who are in some sort of employment. Of that there is a subset of 152 million children in child labour. Of that there is a subset of 73 million children in hazardous work. Of that there is a subset o

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The legislation in the other jurisdictions has looked at forced labour for adults and for children. We talk about both, because in the U.K., for example, they look at forced labour, which involves some 20-odd million people, of which 4.3 million are children.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's a good question. Modern slavery is a term that's a bit nebulous and not internationally defined. The U.K.'s Modern Slavery Act includes forced labour of adults and children—that 20 million that I mentioned—as well as human trafficking, but human trafficking is a process that