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A child labour free Jaipur

A Child Labour Free Jaipur

After six months of setup, January 2019 saw the public launch of Child Labour Free Jaipur (CLFJ) – a pathbreaking initiative that will engage the public as well as the businesses of Jaipur. This initiative will enlist the support of all the stakeholders in Jaipur – the government, local residents, businesses, civil society organisations, and the police – to position Jaipur as a city that has made a commitment to reject child labour.

This effort is the first of its kind, where we are addressing the exploitation of children in an integrated, comprehensive manner.

In Jaipur, CLFJ is working closely with the Government of Rajasthan to increase successful prosecutions against child traffickers, increase care and protection of children, and train police and investigation officers. We are also working to strengthen repatriation with the Government of Bihar, where 80% of the children trafficked into Jaipur come from. In addition, CLFJ is engaging with businesses to find ways in which we can eliminate the demand for child labour. It will support and promote production of ethical goods, with no child labour in supply chains, and make Jaipur one of the safest places in the world for international retailers and ethical Indian companies to do business. We will do this by partnering with leading business champions and industry associations to independently verify and certify supply chains as child-labour free.

We strongly believe that the residents of Jaipur will determine whether our efforts will be successful. By working together with them, we can reject goods made with child labour, and make the presence of child labour unwelcome in local neighbourhoods. To this end, CLJF is engaging with local communities to build resistance and raise awareness through hoardings, bus shelters, posters and cultural activities such as street-plays across the city, urging the public to call Childline (1098) if they see child exploitation in Jaipur. The public launch of CLFJ on 18 January 2019 saw this civic spirit in action, as residents, government representatives and civil society came together in Jaipur to promise an end to child labour in the city.

 

Karan Malik,  Head of Programmes - India, British Asian Trust 

This project is funded by John Lewis Foundation

March 2019