US Documents Use of Child Labor and Forced Labor in the Globe

· “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” and the 23rd edition of the “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.”

[ABS News Service/06.09.2024]

US Reports on Child, Forced Labor The Labor Department has issued updates on the goods and products produced through the use of child or forced labor, the industries where children are exploited and how governments can combat these abuses.

The department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs has published the 11th edition of its “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” and the 23rd edition of the “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.”

In addition to identifying the types of products, the industries involved and where they exist, the reports assist foreign governments in developing effective policy responses and support businesses’ due diligence and risk management in their supply chains.

The International Labor Organization estimates millions of people worldwide are working in abusive labor conditions, including 160 million children in child labor and nearly 28 million people in forced labor.

The latest List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor includes 204 goods from 82 countries that the department has reason to believe are produced by child labor or forced labor in violation of international standards. The 11th edition includes 72 additions, including a record of 37 goods not included on the list previously such as jujubes, lead, nickel, polyvinyl chloride and squid.

It removes Argentinian blueberries, Cambodian salt, Thai shrimp and Mongolian fluorspar from the list.

The report also includes several studies tracing goods tainted with forced or child labor through complex global supply chains. The list adds 43 goods made with inputs that are produced with child labor or forced labor. These include cotton textile products from China and Vietnam produced with Chinese cotton, food and beverage products linked to child labor in cocoa industries in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and sugar products tied to forced labor in the sugarcane industry in the Dominican Republic.

The 23rd Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor examines child labor situations in 131 countries and territories, including trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, hazardous work, commercial sexual exploitation and the use of children in armed conflict or illicit activities. The report details how their governments are working to eliminate child labor and offers nearly 1,900 specific recommendations by country. Notably, enforcement gaps account for 36 percent of the suggested actions, the single largest category.