informal work / BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
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INFORMAL Work
Child labourer works at sandstone in a South India quarry.
Worldwide there is a growing incidence of precarious work producing heightened vulnerability for populations in both richer, industrialised nations as well as poorer ones. Efforts to reduce the absolute numbers of working poor have stalled, with an estimated 327 million people continuing to live in extreme poverty, and 967 more in moderate and near poverty (International Labor Office 2016: 19). Most of the working poor toil outside legal regulation. They are what is known as ‘informal workers’. Problematically, any reduction in poverty rates has not been accompanied by a decrease in the rate of informal work. According to the International Labour Organisation’s estimates, employment, as a percentage of non-agricultural employment, continues to account for over 50 per cent of all employment in half of the countries with comparable data. In one-third of countries, it affects over 65 per cent of workers (International Labor Office 2016: 19).
For the working poor, it’s hard to get a break. They are constantly churning from one job to another, living hand to mouth. They struggle to provide for their children, often having to call on their children to get jobs done and meet deadlines, pulling them away from the studies that would put them in a better position than their parents in the future. They feel forced to accept dangerous and unhealthy workplaces. They often cannot afford healthcare, with long term intergenerational impact on well-being.
The increase in the numerical incidence of precarious and informal work is one of the most significant causes of the growing wage gap which is drawing increasing attention from policy makers and commentators.
See also my blog posts under the keyword 'Precarious Work.'
Business and Human Rights
Protests against POSCO in Odisha province, India, where entire communities are threatened with destruction in the name of development said to serve the greater good.
Business enterprises have the responsibility to respect human rights wherever they operate and whatever their size or industry. This responsibility means companies must know their actual or potential impacts, prevent and mitigate abuses, and address adverse impacts with which they are involved.
My research focuses on how business and human rights due diligence can occur in supply chains and how communities can access remedy when their human rights are breached by business.
See corporateaccountabilityresearch.net for my research in this area.
See also my blog posts under the keyword 'Business and Human Rights.'
See also Evaluating University Efforts to Combat Modern Slavery and Labour Abuses in Supply Chains and Evaluating the Quality of Modern Slavery Reporting in the Australian University Sectorsherehelleymarshall.squarespace.com/config/