Ending child exploitation – how businesses can lead the change
At On Us: Australian Business Coalition for Safeguarding Children, we firmly believe that when businesses come together, they have the power to create environments where children and young people are safe and protected.
That’s why we hosted an exclusive On Us Masterclass with human rights specialist Julie McBride from Tony’s Chocolonely, a global authority on ethical supply chains.
The urgent issue of child exploitation in global industries
Julie’s extensive experience spans collaborations with businesses, NGOs, and policymakers to combat child labour and modern slavery across various sectors, including cocoa, coffee, and textiles. Her insights shed light on the persistent issue of child exploitation in global supply chains.
- Prevalence of child labour: An estimated 160 million children worldwide – 10% of all children – are engaged in child labour. Alarmingly, 70% of these children work in agriculture.
- Cocoa industry focus: Around 65% of the world’s cocoa comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where poverty and inadequate infrastructure drive widespread child labour. In these two countries alone, 1.5 million children work under hazardous conditions in cocoa fields, and 30,000 individuals are trapped in modern slavery within the cocoa sector.
How Tony’s Chocolonely is proving change is possible
During the session, Julie highlighted how Tony’s demonstrates that ethical business isn’t just possible, it’s essential. Tony’s mission is to transform the chocolate industry by ensuring its cocoa is 100% free from exploitation.
Their model is built on five key sourcing principles:
- Traceability – Tracking cocoa beans from farm to shelf to ensure accountability at every stage. Paying a higher price – Going beyond Fairtrade standards to increase farmers’ income, helping them escape poverty.
- Strong farmers – Supporting farmers in taking responsibility for their children’s welfare and improving working conditions.
- Long-term commitment – Securing 5+ year partnerships with cooperatives to ensure stability and growth.
- Productivity and quality – Investing in farmer training to increase yield sustainably, without relying on child labour.
The results speak for themselves. While the industry norm sees 46.5% of children in cocoa cooperatives engaged in child labour, Tony’s has cut this to just 3.9% in its long-term partner cooperatives.
What can businesses learn from this approach?
Julie made it clear that no company can tackle exploitation alone. Businesses must work together and take meaningful, long-term action to eliminate child labour.
- Go beyond audits – A one-off compliance check won’t fix systemic issues. Businesses must actively engage with suppliers and communities.
- Commit to fair pricing – Exploitation will continue if suppliers aren’t paid a living wage.
- Create an open culture – Policing isn’t the solution – supporting families and suppliers to change practices is.
- Invest in long-term partnerships – Quick fixes won’t work. Sustained engagement is key to driving real change.
At On Us, we work with businesses across industries to create child-safe supply chains. The cost of failing to protect children is too great to ignore. When businesses prioritise safeguarding, they not only protect children but also foster safer, healthier workplaces for everyone.
By joining the On Us Coalition, your organisation can help set a higher standard for child safety in Australia, ensuring children and young people are protected and supported, no matter where they are.
Whether you’re in retail, finance, tech, agriculture, or manufacturing, every business has a role to play in ending child exploitation – even those that don’t work directly with children.
It’s on us, not them.
Join the On Us Coalition
Child abuse and exploitation in Australia is an urgent, growing, and critical problem. The On Us coalition is asking Australian businesses to recognise the important role they play in prioritising the safeguarding of children and young people by joining the On Us coalition.