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ASEAN Nations Strengthen Child Labour Policies, Drawing Parallels with Japan’s Ethical Supply Chain Model

  • Writer: Kyodo News
    Kyodo News
  • Jun 17, 2025
  • 3 min read

Southeast Asia has made real progress in tackling child labour in recent years, with countries stepping up cross-border efforts and tightening national laws. At the heart of this push is a growing sense of regional responsibility—and, quietly but consistently, Japan. 


Japan’s influence isn’t loud, but it runs deep. With its postwar experience in curbing exploitative labour and its track record in building ethical business practices, Japan has become a key partner to ASEAN in this shared struggle. 


Across the region, governments are focusing on the murkier parts of their economies, industries with long supply chains, subcontracting networks, and informal hiring. These are the sectors where child labour often hides. To shine a light on these gaps, ASEAN states have begun coordinating laws and monitoring systems, supported in part by Japan’s development agencies and corporate expertise. 


Major Japanese firms have long applied supplier codes of conduct and third-party audits in industries like textiles and cocoa. These practices are now informing ASEAN strategies. Japan’s focus on ethical supply chains isn’t just a corporate image strategy but it reflects a broader national commitment that goes back decades. 


Thailand has shown how this approach can work in practice. In recent years, it’s shifted children out of dangerous workplaces and into vocational programmes. These initiatives, often supported by partner companies, train youths in practical skills and offer structured internships. The idea is to give children a future without forcing families into economic hardship, a model Japan itself  relied on in the 1950s and 60s with its network of technical schools and training centres during its period of rapid growth. 


But structural challenges remain. In countries like Myanmar and Laos, especially in rural regions, education is still out of reach for many. With few options, children often end up in

low-paid jobs, particularly as migrant workers. In fact, UNESCO once estimated that around 10% of Myanmar’s migrant workforce in Thailand were children. 


Here, too, Japan’s history offers lessons. It wasn’t so long ago that Japanese children in the countryside worked on farms instead of attending school. But long-term public investment in compulsory education gradually changed that, helping to pull an entire generation out of poverty and labour dependence. 


Changing attitudes is just as important. In some ASEAN communities, child work isn’t always seen as harmful. Many parents recall their own childhood jobs and pass on the belief that work builds character. Japan faced a similar cultural mindset, which it addressed through public campaigns that promoted schooling and reshaped social norms. 


Today, ASEAN recognises that child labour isn’t only a legal issue—it’s also cultural, structural, and deeply linked to poverty. Regional cooperation is now focused not just on enforcement, but on sharing data, improving access to education, and creating sustainable livelihoods for families. 


Japan, for its part, continues to support these efforts through legal partnerships, regional dialogues, and development programmes. Its approach—built on education, training, and business accountability—has become a quiet blueprint for others. 


While the road ahead is long, ASEAN’s shift towards ethical labour practices, backed by partners like Japan, offers a more hopeful path forward. The region still faces tough questions, but the direction is clear: children belong in school, not on the factory floor. 


Written by Yu Ho Lam Winston, Xie Zhenyue Dora, and Aidan Ng (Huang Qirui)


Bibliography


Action Education. Migration and Education: Desk Review Thailand. Action Education Asia, September 2016. 


ASEAN. ASEAN Declaration on the Prevention of Child Labour, Including the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. ASEAN, November 2016. 


EBSCO. “Kaizen.” Research Starters: History. EBSCO Information Services. Accessed June 17, 2025. 


Journal of Vocational and Technical Education. “Japan’s Vocational Education Reforms: Integrating School-Based and Workplace Learning.” Journal of Vocational and Technical Education 25, no. 1 (2020). https://www.hksmp.com/journals/vte/article/view/543 


OECD. Education in Thailand: An OECD–UNESCO Perspective. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2016. 


TutorChase. “What Were the Educational Reforms During Japan’s Post-War Period?” https://www.tutorchase.com/answers/ib/history/what-were-the-educational-reforms-during-japan -s-post-war-period. 


UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office. Situation Analysis on Migration and Children in ASEAN (Main Report). UNICEF, 2022. 


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