Time to End Child Labor Now

by James Parks, Nov 13, 2007

After 76 child slaves were rescued recently from sewing sweatshops in Delhi, India, making clothes for GapKids, the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which includes the AFL-CIO and several other unions, is calling for immediate action by retailers and brands to end child labor and trafficking of children, as well as forced labor, in their supply chains.

The Global March Against Child Labor (GMACL) estimates that as many as 5,000 to 7,000 sewing shops may be operating in Delhi, each employing between 25 and 30 children. That could total as many as 210,000 children.

As author Barbara Ehrenreich says on AlterNet:

It was enough to make you vomit all over your new denim jacket….As extensively reported on the news, the children, some as young as 10, were worked 16-hour days, fed bowls of mosquito-covered rice and forced to sleep on a roof and use over-flowing latrines. Those who slowed down were beaten with rubber pipes and the ones who cried had oily cloths stuffed in their mouths.

Every day more than 200 million children around world—one in every six between ages 5 and 17—go to work instead of school. According to the International Labor Organization, nearly 171 million children are engaged in hazardous work, of which 111 million are younger than 15. Some 8.4 million children are trapped in the worst forms of child labor, including slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, forced military service, prostitution and pornography.

Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 15 million Indian children between the ages of six and 14 are in the workplace making carpets, cigarettes, glass products, fireworks, brassware, jewelry, embroidery and sporting goods. An estimated 15 million are bonded laborers, which means they must work until they pay off debt owed to their employers.

To combat child labor in India, the Solidarity Center works with a broad network of trade unions and private organizations called the South Asian Coalition Against Child Servitude that has rescued more than 50,000 child laborers. The coalition operates education and social reintegration programs for children trapped in some of the worst forms of child labor.

Gap acknowledged last month that one of its suppliers was using child slave labor. Children as young as 10 told the British Observer newspaper they worked 16 hours a day for no pay. The retailer destroyed the products, which otherwise would have ended up on shelves at GapKids. Click here and here to read the Observer’s reports.

While Gap vowed to bring its suppliers into full compliance with its standards, the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), based in Brussels, Belgium, reports that some suppliers are being pressured to eliminate any paper trail between retailers and Indian subcontractors, which may or may not be using child labor. ITGLWF is a global union federation bringing together 220 affiliated organizations in 110 countries with a combined membership of 10 million workers. 

ITGLWF General Secretary Neil Kearney last week told journalists in Brussels that some garment suppliers in India had been approached by buyers to hide all connections between the buyer and sub-contractors used further down the supply chain. 

So rather than tackling the issue of child slavery among their sub-contractors, some brands and retailers appear to be organizing a disgraceful cover-up!

Darlene Adkins, Child Labor Coalition coordinator, says:

Other retailers must join Gap in acknowledging there is a problem in the supply chain in India. Consumers are watching for a good-faith, credible response to ensure decent work for adults and no child labor. Any textile company that tries to cover-up, instead of an honest effort to clean up their abusive use of child labor, will pay a high price with consumers.

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