Protecting Human Rights in Informal Economies: The European Fight against Child Labour

This research project examines how European regional law and policy detect, prevent, and remediate child labour occurring in informal and hidden economic settings. Focusing on the distinct normative architectures of the Council of Europe and the European Union, the project analyses how instruments such as the ECHR, the European Social Charter, and EU directive-level frameworks conceptualise child labour in unregistered family enterprises and concealed supply chains, and how regional jurisprudence generates positive state obligations and procedural safeguards in lowvisibility contexts. Combining doctrinal analysis, comparative policy review, and normative law-reform evaluation, the study identifies enforcement bottlenecks, including evidentiary incoherence, inspection deficits, statistical invisibility, and deference to family autonomy. By refining European regulatory techniques, such as collective complaints mechanisms and corporate due diligence regimes, the research aims to advance actionable reforms to strengthen child protection where exploitation is most likely to remain hidden.