List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor

There are reports that adults are forced to produce metallurgical-grade silicon in China. Research indicates that Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities are subjected to forced labor as a result of state-sponsored labor transfer programs. Metallurgical-grade silicon manufacturers in Xinjiang receive members of persecuted groups through government-sponsored labor transfer programs. Academic researchers, media, and think tanks report that companies and government entities frequently engage in coercive recruitment, limit workers’ freedom of movement and communication, and subjected workers to constant surveillance, exclusion from community and social life, physical violence, and threats to family members.

Chinese Translation

There are reports that children ages 5 to 17 are engaged in collecting mica from abandoned mines, primarily in illegal mining operations in India. Children are primarily found mining in the major mica-producing states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan, often in lieu of attending school. NGOs and media sources have documented hundreds of children working in mica across these states. Children’s tasks reportedly include breaking apart rocks to mine the minerals, carrying loads of rocks, and sorting and separating mica from other mined minerals. According to media reports and interviews, children’s inhalation of mica dust has contributed to respiratory health issues. Children also reportedly experience other health and safety hazards, resulting in injuries such as scorpion bites and broken bones, or in some cases, even death in poorly-maintained and unregulated mineshafts. 

Hindi Translation

There are reports that children ages 3 to 17 produce mica in Madagascar, primarily in the southern provinces of Androy, Anosy, and Ihorombe.  A study published in 2019 estimated that 10,800 children are involved in mining and sorting mica.  Adolescent boys dig mines and risk injury from falling rocks as they use sharp tools to extract mica from underground with no protective gear.  Both boys and girls work long hours in the hot sun carrying heavy loads and are exposed to mica and sand dust throughout the production process.  Child laborers usually do not attend school, and girls working at the mines are particularly vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation.

French Translation

ILAB has reason to believe that raw sugar, refined sugar, molasses, rum, bagasse, and furfural produced in the Dominican Republic (DR) are produced with an input produced with forced labor, specifically sugarcane produced in the DR. Sugarcane from the DR produced with forced labor was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2009. Numerous reports indicate the widespread presence of forced labor throughout the sugarcane sector of the DR, including in plantations owned by private companies, state-owned entities, and small independent producers (colonos). Sugarcane workers in the DR, particularly workers of Haitian origin or descent, work and live under conditions of forced labor. Sugarcane is used to produce a number of sugar-based products in the DR. The U.S. imports nearly all the raw sugar and the majority of the molasses exported from the DR, while the EU imports all of the produced furfural. In 2023, the U.S. imported over $131 million in raw sugar from the DR. Research suggests that further downstream products of sugarcane, such as beverages, alcoholic beverages, candy, baked goods, processed food products, animal feed, paper, pulp, construction materials, biofuels, industrial chemicals, medicines, and medicinal alcohol may be produced with an input produced with forced labor.

Spanish Translation

There are multiple reports that adults are forced to work in the production of nickel in Indonesia. Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves, with approximately 23.7% of the world’s known deposits. Large industrial parks are built as part of the Government of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to process nickel ore in Central and Southeast Sulawesi. Chinese companies have a majority ownership of these parks. The industrial parks employ an estimated 6,000 Chinese migrant workers in various capacities. According to NGO reports, workers are often deceptively recruited in China. After they arrive in Indonesia, many workers receive a lower wage than promised along with longer work hours. Workers regularly have passports confiscated by employers and experience arbitrary deduction of wages, as well as physical and verbal violence as means of punishment. Other indicators of forced labor in the parks include restriction of movement, isolation, constant surveillance, and forced overtime; all of which are reportedly common practices in the production of nickel in the industrial parks.

Indonesian Translation

ILAB has reason to believe that multiple palm oil products produced in Indonesia are made with an input using child labor and forced labor, specifically palm fruit harvested in Indonesia. These palm oil products include crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, refined palm oil, refined palm kernel oil, and oleochemicals.

Palm Fruit from Indonesia was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2010 for child labor and added in 2020 for forced labor. Indonesia produces most of the world’s palm fruit and palm oil. In 2020, refined palm oil from Indonesia accounted for 55.26 percent of global imports. In 2020, the U.S. obtained about 60 percent of its $1 billion in refined palm oil imports from Indonesia.

This research suggests that further downstream products of palm fruit and palm oil, such as cooking oils, animal feed, bakery items and baked goods, beverages, household and industrial products, personal care and cosmetic products, infant formula, and biofuels, may be produced with an input produced with child labor and forced labor.

ILAB has reason to believe that multiple palm oil products produced in Malaysia are produced with an input derived from child labor and forced labor, specifically palm fruit produced in Malaysia. These palm oil products include crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, refined palm oil, refined palm kernel oil, cooking oil (palm oil blends), oleochemicals, and biofuel. Palm fruit from Malaysia was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2009 for forced labor and added in 2014 for child labor. Research from NGOs and media reports continue to show tens of thousands of children work in the palm fruit sector in Malaysia. Similar reporting shows forced labor indicators are widespread in palm fruit plantations, particularly among migrant workers who face vulnerabilities during and after recruitment. This research suggests that further worldwide downstream products of palm fruit and palm oil, such as animal feed, baked goods, beverages, household and industrial products, personal care products, cosmetic products, infant formula, and shortening, may be produced with an input produced with child labor and forced labor.