INTERNATIONAL
JAPAN
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
ADVOCACY PROGRAM
INTERNATIONAL PLATFORMS
We actively participate in and present at international platforms and conferences on issues of child labour, child rights, and business and human rights. We are particularly actively involved with:
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Alliance 8.7 -ACE as partner organization -
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Global March Against Child Labour - ACE as Board Member -
INTERNATIONAL
ADVOCACY
RECENT CONFERENCES
C20 JAPAN 2019
As a member of the C20's Working Group of Employment and Business and Human Rights, we advocated to G20 to take concrete steps to eradicate child labour, forced labour, human trafficking and modern slavery, and promote transparency in global supply chains and human rights due diligence in business. ACE President, Yuka Iwatsuki, as acting chair of the C20, presented the C20 2019 Policy Pack which included the above recommendations, to Prime Minister Abe in April 2019, prior to the C20 Summit meeting.
SDG 8.7 DIALOGUES
Leading up to the main summits, ACE organized the SDG 8.7 Dialogues, advocating for the elimination of child labour to be included in the outcome documents. The dialogues were attended by representatives from 12 countries, including Argentina and the U.S., and international bodies including the EU, ILO, and OECD, as well as government officials of the Working Group for Labour and Employment.
CLCCG 2019, Cote D'Ivoire
(Coordinating Group for the Elimination of Child Labour in the Cocoa Industry)
ACE Managing Director Tomoko Shiroki and Ghana Project Manager Akira Kondo attended the annual meeting of the CLCCG. The platform is made up of the governments of the world's first and second largest cocoa producers, the Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, the U.S. Department of Labour, and the chocolate and cocoa industry.
We presented our initiatives to solve child labour issues in the supply chain through close collaboration between Ghana and Japan, cacao producers, confectionary companies and consumers.
Read more about our collaboration with the Ghanaian government and our SMILE Ghana Community project.
International Conference on Sustainable Brands 2019, Tokyo
The Sustainable Brands conference is the largest international event for those seeking to achieve sustainable business. Companies and organisations showcased their own models and ideas, and participants also actively exchanged ideas. Advocates of cross-sector collaboration proposed linking SDGs initiatives to corporate value enhancement, and called for stakeholder-wide collaboration
ACE Managing Director Tomoko Shiroki presented in two of the sessions on Sustainable Procurement and Human Rights, including "The Forefront of Collaboration between Companies and NGOs! The Challenge of Changing the World starting with the Elimination of Child Labour".
Tomoko Shiroki also presented at a session at the 2020 conference on cross-sector collaboration in solving issues of business and human rights:
JAPAN:
ADVOCACY
We make policy recommendations to the Japanese government by organizing seminars for members of parliament, facilitating meetings with officials of relevant government ministries and agencies, and participating in cross-sector networks.
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CL-NET
(Stop Child Labour Network)
- ACE as Secretariat-
OUR JAPANESE NETWORKS
The Stop Child Labour Network is a Japanese network of organizations established in 2004, that share our mission to realise a world without child labour through advocacy and awareness-raising. Made up of 17 members, including NGOs and trade unions, it conducts the “STOP! Child Labour Campaign” around the World Day against Child Labour (June 12). It also collects signatures nationwide for petitions to the Japanese government, which is submitted to the relevant government agencies.
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JANIC (Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation)
-ACE as Board Member- -
Business and Human Rights Civil Society Platform
- ACE as Steering Committee Member- -
GPeVAC (Global Partnership to End Violence against Children) Japan Forum
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JNATIP (Japan Network Against Trafficking In Persons)
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Japan NGO Liaison Group for TICAD
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DEAR (Development Education Association and Resource Center)
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JNNE (Japan NGO Network for Education)
CL-Net hands petition to the State Minister for Foreign Affairs
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
August 30, 2022
Submitted public comments on the draft, “Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains”
June 14, 2022
Signed a letter, “Anti-Trafficking Leaders Call on G7 to Address Forced Labour”
May 19, 2022
Co-organized a side event on “The Child Labour Free Zone in Ghana at the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour Conference” Read the blog post!
November 25, 2021
Signed a Position Paper, “Mainstreaming Child Rights: a Call for a UN-wide Strategy on Child Rights in Response to Our Common Agenda”
November 2, 2021
Signed an open letter to G7 Trade Ministers, “Fulfilling Commitments to Ending Forced Labour”
August 24, 2021
Contributed to the formulation of the National Action Plan on Violence against Children by making comments to the Japanese government
July 7, 2021
Submitted the public comments on the Voluntary National Review, which was partially included
June 30, 2021
Signed a joint open letter to G7 Trade Ministers
June 15, 2021
Submitted more than 70 thousand signatures to the Chief Cabinet Secretary and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to advocate for the elimination of child labour
May 12, 2021
Made a 2021 Action Pledge in the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour
April 21, 2021
Organized a multi-stakeholder meeting to discuss actions and possibilities for collaboration during the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour in the Diet Member's Building (parliament)
November 26, 2020
March 18, 2020
Submitted public comments on the draft “National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights”
January 23, 2020
Submitted public comments on the draft “Implementation Plan on SDGs (outline)”
December 21, 2019
Submitted public comments on “the Fundamental Principles regarding Anti-child Poverty Measures"
November 25-27, 2019
Participated in the 2019 UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva
October 18, 2019
Raised awareness regarding NHK's documentary “The situation of children of foreign workers: behind the increase in its numbers”
September 2, 2019
Commitment to the elimination of child labour was included in the Ministerial Declaration
August 27, 2019
Organized a side event on the “Cooperation between NGOs and Governments to Realize Child Rights of Agriculture in West Africa,” at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama
July 17, 2019
G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration
Commitment to the elimination of child labour was included in the Leaders’ Declaration
July 9-18, 2019
Participated in the High Level Political Forum 2019 in New York
May 14-15, 2019
Participated in the Second Global Meeting of the Alliance 8.7 Action Group on Supply Chains in Abidjan
April 23, 2019
April 20-21, 2019
Supported the organization of the C20 Summit Tokyo
February 27, 2019
February 19, 2019
Made public comments on “The report on the base-line study on business and human rights”
February 18-19, 2019
Contributed to organizing the C20 Preparatory Face-to-Face Meeting
December 3-5, 2018
Participated in the 2018 Freedom from Slavery Forum in Bangkok
November 14, 2018
Organized a film event “The Price of Free” in the Diet Member's Building (parliament) on the 100 Million Campaign’s Global Day of Action conducted by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation
October 26, 2018
Organized a seminar on “Reducing the risks of human rights violation in supply chains” inviting the Associate Deputy Undersecretary of the International Labour Affairs Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labour, in the Diet Member's Building (parliament)
June 18, 2018
Organized a seminar, “Child labour exists in Japan”, in the Diet Member's Building (parliament)
January 10, 2018
Made a statement on the death of a fifteen-year-old Japanese child labourer
November 14-16, 2017
Participated in the Fourth Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour in Buenos Aires
September 12-13, 2017
Participated in the NGO Forum - Alliance 8.7 in London
May 13, 2016
Co-organized a roundtable meeting on SDG 8.7 with the Child Labor Coalition (U.S.) in Tokyo, with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi. Summary Report on the Roundtable Meeting: Strategies to End Child Labour by 2025 (SDG Target 8.7)
