Child Labour Remediation and Young Workers Protection Policy and Protocol

June 2023

Child Labour

There shall be no hiring or use of child labour. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Minimum Age Convention (1973) states that workers, “shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years”. All Tiers’ facilities shall maintain accurate official documentation for verification of every workers’ date of birth, and where official documentation is not available, site management shall use available family records to facilitate the age registration of the worker with local authorities, reviewed prior to employment start date.

Barbour does not tolerate Child Labour in our Supply Chain. Should Barbour or its stakeholders, a Barbour supplier’s management team or a Third Party auditor detect, or be informed of, child labour employed, or children present within their manufacturing premises, Barbour requires its Business Partners in any Tier to:

1.     inform relevant Barbour staff, ideally immediately, but within 24 hours – by contacting Barbour’s Global Ethical Trade Manager or your Barbour Category Manager, or via email inform [email protected];

2.     take appropriate, agreed, and immediate actions to keep the child(ren) from harm, always protecting their best interests, and removing them from the workfloor, accompanied, to a safer space on-site;

3.     list the names, genuine date of birth, and contact details of the child(ren) and guardian(s);

4.     immediately co-operate with Barbour’s appointed Child Labour Remediation service provider, in the assessment of the child’s situation;

5.     not formally terminate the child’s employment nor expel the child from the premises prior to the agreed plan between Barbour and Barbour’s appointed Child Labour Remediation service provider, nor seek to establish any separate agreement with the child or their guardian(s), or side-step this Policy or the agreed plan; and, not intimidate, threaten nor attempt to coerce the child or family, at any stage;

6.     communicate to the child and their guardian(s), in initial communications, that:

         i.   the factory shall continue to pay the wage the child was contracted to earn, at least the national minimum wage, monthly, to the family via Barbour’s service provider, until the child reaches minimum working age, at which time non-hazardous decent work shall be offered within the site;

        ii.   the child’s family members shall be consulted and offered suitable decent work within the site;

        iii.   the factory shall pay the child’s education fees until reaching the end of compulsory school age or minimum working age, whichever is higher, periodically, via the Barbour-appointed service provider, which will track their attendance, and alternative means of learning;

7.     undergo age documents verification training to upgrade the employment procedure, and begin a full review of recruitment practices to establish how the child(ren) were hired into the site;

8.     refund Barbour, on request, any costs associated to the remediation cases;

9.     commit to cease recruitment of child(ren) into all manufacturing sites, and uphold this Policy and relevant standards with subcontractor sites throughout all Tiers of manufacturing.

Young Workers

Young Workers are employees aged 15-17 years, and are considered Vulnerable Workers requiring protections under law. Young Workers shall not be subjected to health and psychological hazards, and shall be exempt from working overtime, or night work, until reaching the age of 18.

Barbour requires all suppliers to actively implement Young Workers Protections. A list of Young Workers shall be maintained, and their assigned tasks reviewed for hazard risks prior to starting work. Young Workers shall undergo health checks, if required by law, paid for by the employer, and conducted by appropriate health professionals, prior to employment start dates, and logged with the local labour bureau, annually until reaching the age of 18. Employers are responsible for analysing health checks and ensuring young worker safety.