LJN Blog Posts

Marshalls and UNICEF UK have formed a three year partnership to protect children working in the hazardous stone quarrying sector in India.

With funding from Marshalls, UNICEF will carry out research into quarrying in the Indian state of Rajasthan and will use the findings to develop long-term interventions to tackle child labour in the stone quarrying sector.

The research findings will be used by UNICEF to advocate with the Indian government, business and other stakeholders to adapt policies and create a regulatory framework to work towards the elimination of child labour within the quarrying industry.

The partnership will also support UNICEF’s child protection and education programmes in Rajasthan, building upon the success of Marshalls award-winning education programme with local NGO partner Hadoti.

The new partnership was announced by Chris Harrop, Marshalls’ group marketing director, at UNICEF’s Children’s Rights and Business workshop in New York. He said, “This partnership builds upon the pioneering work that Marshalls has been doing since 2006 regarding child labour and more recently the extensive embedding of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles across our business.

Together UNICEF and Marshalls will work as strategic partners contributing to eliminating child labour in India’s stone quarrying sector, promoting a more responsible business model across the entire industry.

This activity further strengthens Marshalls’ market leading approach to social responsibility within the stone supply chain globally.”