The US Department of Labour (DoL) has added Myanmar and Turkey to the list of foreign-made apparel and footwear that it has reason to believe are produced by either child or forced labour in violation of international standards.
The 2018 list was updated yesterday (20 September). It now totals 418 line items representing 148 products from 76 countries.
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The DoL is required to take steps to ensure the goods on this list are not imported into the US if they are made with forced or child labour, including working with producers to help set standards to eliminate the use of such labour.
“Accelerating progress means intensifying efforts on what we are already doing and what we know works,” explains R Alexander Acosta, the US Secretary of Labour. “That means enforcing trade commitments, strengthening labour standards, and removing children from dangerous or demeaning work that robs them of their childhoods. This means prosecuting and holding accountable those individuals who force children to traffic drugs, wage battle as part of armed groups or perform sex acts. It means permanently shuttering dishonest recruitment agencies and illicit companies that lure workers with false promises of decent work into abhorrent conditions of forced labour. And as we intensify our efforts, we must also seek innovations and creative solutions to more effectively address these challenges “
Paraguay, which was previously listed for child labour in the cotton sector was removed after ILAB found no children working in cotton in its most recent investigation. But Paraguay was listed in other sectors including agriculture and rural economies.
Similarly, Uzbekistan was removed from the list of cotton produced by child labour. It continues to feature on the list of forced labour in the cotton sector however.
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By GlobalDataIn total, 15 countries are still exploiting children for cotton including Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mali, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, China and Zambia.
Seven are also said to practice forced labour for cotton including Benin, Burkina Faso, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. And seven countries practice forced labour in the garment sector including Brazil, China, Argentina, Malaysia, India, Thailand and Vietnam.
“It is my hope that these reports will provide you with a renewed sense of urgency to continue this fight and bring others along who will join us in the race toward fair global trade – one that gives children their childhoods, forced laborers their freedom, and US workers a fair playing field,” asserts Acosta.
Separately, Myanmar has agreed its first Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP), which will work to promote employment, protect labour rights, improve safety at work and strengthen social dialogue in the country.
