A foundation is piloting a label to guarantee clothes are child labour free, but when auditing failed to prevent tragedies like Rana Plaza, campaigners doubt its ability to create change
Children are ubiquitous in the fashion supply chain: from the cotton farms of Uzbekistan, to the mills of India and the tanneries and factories of Bangladesh. Children are employed to produce and sell clothing because they can be paid less and exploited more than adults, and children work because poverty drives them to need to support themselves and their families.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines child labour as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development”. Worldwide, it denies 168 million children the right to education, leisure, and a healthy life.
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Source: The Guardian Circular Economy RSS