Cotton's Forgotten Children

Child Labour and Below Minimum Wages in Hybrid Cottonseed Production in India

by
SCL - Stop Child Labour
ICN - India Committee of the Netherlands

July 2015

Bijna een half miljoen Indiase kinderen - waaronder 200.000 jonger dan 14 jaar - werken in de katoenzaadteelt. Dit is een van de schokkende resultaten van het nieuwe rapport Cotton's Forgotten Children van Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu, dé Indiase expert op dit gebied. Het aantal kinderen dat in de katoenzaadvelden werkt is sinds het vorige onderzoek uit 2010 met bijna 100.000 gestegen. Kinderen onder de 18 vormen ongeveer 60% van de arbeiders op de velden van de boeren die hun zaden aan zowel Indiase als multinationale ondernemingen leveren. [PERSBERICHT]

Almost half a million Indian children are working to produce the cottonseed that is the basis for our garments and all the other textile products that we use. Around 200,000 of them are below 14 years of age. This is one of the shocking results of the new study Cotton's Forgotten Children by India's long-term expert on the issue, Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu.
It is equally shocking that the number of children working in the cotton seed fields has increased with almost 100,000 since the last all-India study on this issue in 2010. Children's below 14 constitute around 25% of the workforce on the fields of the farmers that supply their seeds to both Indian and multinational companies. Another 35% of the workforce are children between 14 and 18 years of age. [PRESS RELEASE]

India Committee of the Netherlands / Landelijke India Werkgroep - Jul 23, 2015