List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor

There are reports that children, mostly boys ages 5-17, are forced to mine for diamonds in Sierra Leone. Diamond mines are concentrated in Koidu, Kenema, and Kono districts in the Eastern Province. Some children are trafficked from rural areas to work in diamond mines, or are sent by their families; these children are often recruited under deceptive terms. The children are forced to work, without pay, in hazardous conditions underground in the mines for excessively long hours. Some children are not provided with sufficient food. In addition, some children of artisanal, independent, small-scale diamond miners work with their families as indentured servants, in debt to diamond dealers.

There are reports that children, mostly boys between the ages of 5-17, are forced to work in the production of dried fish in Bangladesh. According to the most recently available government data, close to 1,900 children, or about 24 percent of children working in the dried fish industry, are working under conditions of force. This forced child labor is found in the coastal districts of Borguna, Patuakhali, Chittagong, and Cox's Bazar of the Bay of Bengal, with the highest proportion of children in forced labor working in Bagherhat. According to the Government's data, some of the children work as bonded labor, often in exchange for advanced payments that have been made to their parents. These children are not free to leave the workplace, and some are not allowed any contact with their family. Some children are also forced to work under threat of physical violence and wage deductions. 

Bengali Translation

ILAB has reason to believe that electrolytic copper products and lithium-ion batteries produced in China are made with an input produced with child labor, specifically copper ore produced in the DRC. Copper ore from the DRC was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2009 for child labor. Children mine, collect, crush, and wash copper ore in the DRC’s artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba. This ore is sold and traded to processing facilities in the DRC, where copper ore mined by children becomes mixed with copper ore from a variety of sources. In 2021 and 2022, China imported over 63% of DRC’s copper—some of which was produced with copper ore mined by children— for further refining and use in a variety of electrolytic (high purity) copper products including wires, bars, billets, plates, pipes, tubes, foil, and fittings. Electrolytic copper and copper alloys are used to produce lithium-ion batteries in China. This research suggests that further downstream products of copper ore, such as electric vehicles, electrical equipment, electrical wiring, brass, steel, telecommunications products, and construction materials, may be produced with an input produced with child labor.

Chinese Translation

There are reports that children ages 13-15 are forced to produce electronics in China. Based on the most recently available data from media sources, government raids, and NGOs, hundreds of cases of forced child labor have been reported in factories in Guangdong province, but the children are often from Henan, Shanxi, or Sichuan provinces. In some cases, children are forced to work in electronics factories through arrangements between the factories and the schools that the children attend in order to cover alleged tuition debts. The forced labor programs are described as student apprenticeships; however, the children report that they were forced to remain on the job and not allowed to return home. Half of the students' wages are sent directly to the schools, and the children receive little compensation after deductions are made for food and accommodations. In other cases, children are abducted or deceived by recruiters, sent to Guangdong, and sold to employers. Some children are held captive, forced to work long hours for little pay. 

Chinese Translation

There is evidence that children under the age of 14 work in the production of electronics in Pakistan. Based on an analysis of Pakistan’s Labor Force Survey 2017–2018, an estimated 23,521 children perform tasks related to the creation of electronic goods. The ILO has found that children who work in sectors requiring intensive manual labor frequently miss days of school and sometimes encounter health hazards related to exposure to the elements, physical injuries, and utilization of dangerous tools. The release of this survey demonstrates the Government of Pakistan’s commitment to addressing child labor and its acknowledgement that data analysis is critical to the design and implementation of strong policies and programs.

Urdu Translation