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An estimated one million children, as young as five, are working 12 hour days in the cotton industry, according to a new report from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). The Children Behind Our Cotton report outlines how children are working long hours in extreme weather conditions as underpaid, unpaid or forced labourers, many facing physical, verbal and sometimes sexual abuse.
The countries reported to use child labour in their cotton fields include China, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Uzbekistan and Turkey -- six of the world’s top seven cotton producers. In terms of imports, the UK and Germany were the biggest EU importers of textile products in 2005.
"Global cotton production is worth in the region of US$40 billion annually," says Juliette Williams, programme director of EJF. "But it is effectively subsidised by children earning at most $2 a day, if anything at all, for their back-breaking contribution. Worse, in the world's third largest cotton exporter, Uzbekistan, child labour is state-sponsored."
Children are used for various jobs in cotton production; sowing and picking plants, weeding plantations, removing pests and cross pollinating plants. Often, children who work in fields are exposed to chemicals after plants have been sprayed with pesticides -- sometimes by themselves -- which clearly poses a serious health risk.
"Children were working on cotton plants that had been sprayed with chemicals only moments before, without any protection," says Duncan Copeland, EJF campaigner. "Most of the children we interviewed complained of nasty side-effects like fainting and sickness from exposure to pesticides, which is obviously a serious cause for concern."
EJF are now calling on clothes manufacturers to be more selective about where they purchase their textiles and ensure child labour is not used at any stage of the production and supply chain.
"Practical measures can swiftly be taken to ensure transparent sourcing of cotton products, such as a labelling scheme that identifies the country of origin of the cotton as well as the country of manufacture," says Williams.
However, consumers can wield just as much power to stop this practice as manufacturers. So be careful what you buy, ask where the cotton has come from and in what conditions it was produced.
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