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Eliminating Child/Forced Labor in Agricultural Products Subject of March 29 Meeting |
The Department of Agriculture’s Consultative Group to Eliminate the Use of Child Labor and Forced Labor in Imported Agricultural Products will hold a public meeting March 29 in Washington, D.C. Requests to make an oral statement at this meeting are due by March 18. Those interested in attending without making a statement should notify USDA by March 22. All written statements should be submitted no later than April 30.
The sole purpose of this meeting is to solicit input regarding the Consultative Group’s statutory mandate to develop recommendations relating to a standard set of practices for independent third-party monitoring and verification for the production, processing and distribution of agricultural products or commodities to reduce the likelihood that such goods imported into the U.S. are produced with forced labor or child labor. These recommendations are to be submitted to USDA by June 18. By June 18, 2011, USDA is required to release guidelines for a voluntary initiative to enable entities to address issues raised by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. These guidelines must be published in the Federal Register and made available for public comment for 90 days.
USDA requests that in written submissions and statements as part of the public meeting parties provide information or comments on the following issues.
• examples of identification, monitoring, verification and/or certification systems, or other models, that have been successful in reducing child labor and/or forced labor in the global supply chains within the agricultural sector or other industries
• the roles and responsibilities that may be appropriate for the business sector and other stakeholders (governments, unions, non-governmental organizations and others) in establishing independent third-party monitoring and verification systems for the production, processing and distribution of agricultural products or commodities
• other information that would be useful to the Consultative Group in meeting its mandate |
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