Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Tweet[IWS] ILAB: LIST OF PRODUCTS PRODUCED BY FORCED OR INDENTURED CHILD LABOR [1 December 2014]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)
LIST OF PRODUCTS PRODUCED BY FORCED OR INDENTURED CHILD LABOR [1 December 2014]
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-products/
also
LIST OF GOODS PRODUCED BY CHILD LABOR OR FORCED LABOR [1 December 2014]
http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods/
ILAB maintains a list of products and their source countries which it has a reasonable basis to believe are produced by forced or indentured child labor, pursuant to Executive Order 13126. This List is intended to ensure that U.S. federal agencies do not procure goods made by forced or indentured child labor. Under procurement regulations, federal contractors who supply products on the List must certify that they have made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labor was used to produce the items supplied. Read Moreabout the List of Goods
The Department of Labor, in consultation with the Departments of State and Homeland Security, publishes and maintains the List. ILAB released its initial List in 2001, and has revised it several times since then.
Legal Authorities
The List is required by Executive Order 13126, "Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor." The procurement requirements related to products on the List are set out in a 2001 Federal Acquisition Regulation Final Rule.
Procedural Guidelines
ILAB develops the List using criteria and procedures established in its "Procedural Guidelines for the Maintenance of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor."
Press Release 1 December 2014
US Labor Department announces updated lists of goods produced by child labor, forced labor
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ilab/ILAB20142116.htm
Article 1 December 2014
11 New Products Added to List of Goods Produced by Child labor, Forced labor
by Marcia Eugenio
A nine-year-old girl sits on a cracked floor in the suffocating heat and humidity of a five-story garment factory. She is almost finished trimming loose threads from shirt sleeves when her 11-year-old friend comes to collect the sleeves, which will be sown into shirts. As they briefly share a laugh, the supervisor smacks their heads and screams at them to get back to work. This day is not much different from any other.
A twelve-year-old boy walks between the long rows of vanilla orchids on a large plantation, hand-pollinating the flowers. He works in sweltering heat during school breaks, and reports to the fields each day after school, working until late at night.
Another boy kneels next to a wooden loom many times his size, reaching up to weave yarn through its threads. When he finishes, he will eat a meager meal and go to sleep next to the loom, alongside the seven other boys who also live and work there. He is only 10 years old, but he can barely remember his parents through the fog of the drugs his employers provide to keep him docile. Four years ago, his impoverished family took an advance payment from a recruiter in exchange for his labor, and he has remained bonded to this loom ever since.
Although the details of their exploitation may differ, the stark reality of the estimated 168 million child laborers and 21 million forced laborers around the world are the same: their lives are a constant struggle, as they remain trapped in a cycle of poverty, vulnerability and exploitation. They often live and work in hazardous and inhumane conditions that we cannot even imagine.
Today, the Department of Labor is releasing two reports that expand the numbers of goods known to be produced through forced and/or child labor. The updated "List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor," mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (TVPRA List), includes two new goods, alcoholic beverages and meat, and one new country, Yemen. New items added to the TVPRA List are garments from Bangladesh; cotton and sugarcane from India; vanilla from Madagascar; fish from Kenya and Yemen; alcoholic beverages, meat, textiles, and timber from Cambodia; and palm oil from Malaysia – all made by child labor – as well as electronics from Malaysia produced by forced labor.
In addition, in accordance with Executive Order 13126, the department is also publishing an initial determination to add carpets from India to its "List of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor," which currently includes 35 products from 26 countries.
For companies, the Lists have become go-to resources for carrying out risk assessments and due diligence on labor rights in their supply chains. For civil society groups, they have been useful tools for advocating on behalf of working children and victims of forced labor. For consumers, the Lists flag areas of concern on which they can engage with companies from which they buy products.
None of us wants to contribute to the exploitation of children, but with these Lists, we have a starting point for our individual and collective action.
Marcia Eugenio is the director of the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking
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