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“Inequality abounds in schools, workplaces, in government and beyond…if we do not capture the energy and creativity of women we cannot achieve the full potential of our economies and societies,” said Michelle Yeoh, award-winning actress and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador during the Responsible Business Forum in Singapore in 2016.

Ethical Toy Program audits can only be conducted by either accredited auditors from our approved panel of audit firms or authorized Ethical Toy Program staff members. Our panel of approved audit firms includes ELEVATE, SCSA, SGS and UL.

IETP is co-hosting a seminar with Shenzhen Toy Industry Association for toy, children & baby products and souvenir manufacturers who are interested in expanding to Vietnam, detail of the seminar please refer to the Chinese page.

Every child has the right to grow up loved and cared for by their parents. But what if they can’t? An estimated 15 million migrant workers in China – many of whom are factory workers – have left their children behind and only see them once a year. Many others have no choice but to leave their children in dorm rooms during the summer holidays while they work or take them to the factory floor.

Please now check Helpline Cards and Helpline Posters at your factory to ensure you are using the latest versions displaying the correct information

Over 60 guests joined the seminar – “Exploring International Business Opportunities” – which gathered together key toy industry stakeholders including industry association presidents, representatives brands and retailers, as well as senior factory management for multi-stakeholder dialogue.

“Gender equality is at the core of our country’s national policy. Promoting equal employment for women is conducive to promoting women's participation in social and economic activities, in turn, enhancing social productivity and economic vitality. The Party and the government attach great importance to this. Laws and regulations in China such as the Labor Law, the Employment Promotion Act, and other laws aimed to protect women’s right and interests,clearly specify women’s equal rights and put in place regulations to combat gender discrimination in employment.”

In November 2018, we added further checklist requirements on responsible recruitment to support the implementation of the EPP, introduced as part of wider updates and enhancements to our program. Developed with input from the Institute for Human Rights and Business and other stakeholders, these checkpoints require factories to establish effective recruitment policies and procedures to ensure that no fees are charged to any factory workers – whether recruited directly or via a labor broker. Procedures must also include provisions for handling and remediation of any violations of the policy where workers have paid unauthorized fees in their recruitment process through brokers or agents.

In order to allow time for Chinese New Year 2018 celebrations, the Ethical Toy Program will instruct our accredited firms to not conduct audits between February 1st 2018 through March 4th 2018 (1 week prior to and 2 weeks after Chinese New Year).

The Ethical Toy Program will use WeChat to connect with factory management, sharing learning resources for factories, details of Ethical Toy Program news and events, guidance on Ethical Toy Program policies, best practice on audit requirements and upcoming factory training sessions - helping to make our comprehensive support accessible to all.

As part of our continued partnership Ethical Corporation will provide a professional platform for Ethical Toy Program members to keep up with key sustainability trends, giving them preferential access to webinars and events as well as discounted passes for Responsible Business Summits worldwide. Ethical Toy Program will share thought leadership and best practice examples with the Ethical Corporation community from our successful factory certification and capability building work and worker well-being programs.

The CRBPs are based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and are aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Principles provide a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing the impact of business on the rights and well-being of children, requiring business to respect and support children’s rights by both preventing harm and actively safeguarding children’s interests.

The survey offers factories a unique opportunity to give anonymous feedback. More than 45% of all factories in the ICTI Ethical Toy Program, from eight countries, participated in this years’ survey.

Ethical Toy Program then joined others from government, business, the UN, academia and civil society to participate in a business-focused, deep-dive discussion exploring key issues and challenges around family-friendly policies.

At the reception, we’ll discuss

Ethical Toy Program – the leading responsible sourcing program for the global toy industry – has developed an auditor assessment tool to enable toy factories to evaluate, and feedback on, the performance of on-site auditors. This online assessment tool is the first of its kind for factories undergoing social compliance audits.

The IETP Social Impact Assessment is designed to assess a manufacturing site, vendor, agent or licensee’s social impact by measuring the effectiveness of their management systems in place for labor standards in their businesses and in their supply chains. Social impact is the effect an organization has on people and communities as a result of its actions, activities, projects, programs or policies.

The Ethical Toy Program is adding a new Auditor Assessment Functionality to the Connect Platform. This new, online feedback tool enables toy factories to evaluate, and feedback on, the performance of on-site auditors.

Program such as Ethical Toy Program Family Friendly Spaces (FFS) enable parents and caregivers to provide the best start in life for their children; they pay off in healthier, better-educated children, a better-equipped workforce and more sustainable growth.

We are delighted to announce that this summer we are operating more FFS than ever before at 18 factories which will accommodate 691 children, allowing 788 parents to be reunited with their children for the summer.