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:
-ACE as partner organization -
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:
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.
JAPAN:
ADVOCACY
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.
JANIC (Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation)
-ACE as Board Member-
Business and Human Rights Civil Society Platform
- ACE as Steering Committee Member-
Japan Civil Society Network on SDGs
GPeVAC (Global Partnership to End Violence against Children) Japan Forum
JNATIP (Japan Network Against Trafficking In Persons)
Japan NGO Liaison Group for TICAD
DEAR (Development Education Association and Resource Center)
JNNE (Japan NGO Network for Education)
CL-Net hands petition to the State Minister for Foreign Affairs
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
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 HERE
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 Organized a breakout session at the C20 2020 Summit, “Promoting CSO-Business-
Government Collaboration in the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour
towards the Achievement of SDG 8.7” HERE
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
November 14, 2019 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, 2019 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)
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 Organized the third SDG 8.7 Dialogue in Matsuyama for the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting. Read about our SDG 8.7 Dialogues HERE
★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 Organized the second SDG 8.7 Dialogue at Hotel New Ohtani Tokyo for the Second G20 Employment Working Group Meeting. Read about our SDG 8.7 Dialogues HERE
April 20-21, 2019 Supported the organization of the C20 Summit Tokyo
★ACE president, Yuka Iwatsuki presented the Policy Pack 2019 to the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as the Chair of C20 Japan 2019. Read more HERE
February 27, 2019 Organized the First SDG 8.7 Dialogue in the Diet Member's Building (parliament), for the First G20 Employment Working Group Meeting. Read about our SDG 8.7 Dialogues HERE
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
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
Statement on the death of fifteen-year-old Japanese child laborer (January, 2018)
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)
