Stop Child Labour partner sees small steps to end child labour in India (Stop Child Labour):
Venkat Reddy has been active in combating child labour in India since the 1990s. He acts on behalf of the MV Foundation and is also a member of the advisory board on child labour in the Indian Ministry of Labour & Employment. He sees a cautious shift from child labour to the school classroom. This is what he shares in an interview in Dutch newspaper Trouw, 28 October 2018.

New monitoring report: ‘Remedies for Indian seed workers in sight?’ (Stop Child Labour):
The report Remedies for Indian seed workers in sight?, published on the 1th of November 2018 by Stop Child Labour and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), reveals that despite progress in addressing child labour, seed companies have not sufficiently addressed the issue yet. The companies are also largely failing to take adequate measures to address non-payment of minimum wages, especially to women.

New monitoring report: Seed companies show progress on tackling child labour, but fail to tackle non-payment of minimum wages in their supply chain (ICN/Stop Child Labour):
The report Remedies for Indian seed workers in sight? of the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) reveals that despite progress in addressing child labour, seed companies have not sufficiently addressed the issue yet. The companies are also largely failing to take adequate measures to address non-payment of minimum wages, especially to women.

Stop Child Labour business cases (Stop Child Labour):
Stop Child Labour has developed business cases for companies. The business cases aim to encourage companies to assume responsibility and take concrete measures to ban child labour from their production chain. The business cases clearly show why it is important for companies to address child labour. Moreover, they explain how Stop Child Labour can support them in addressing child labour and what is expect from them in this endeavour.

Stop Child Labour presents annual report Getting down to Business (Stop Child Labour):
The Stop Child Labour annual report shows progress in the elimination of child labour in countries and sectors under the Getting down to Business programme.

Successful training about Business and Human Rights in India (Stop Child Labour):
The training Responsible Business Behaviour for Creating Child Labour Free Zones strenghtens organizations in cooperating with companies to realize child labour free production in India. The last training under this programme took place in March 2018 in Dehli. The training was organized by the Stop Child Labour India Platform.

Kampf gegen Kinderarbeit: Landesregierung beschließt Runderlass zur Zertifizierung von Grabsteinen (Ministerium für Arbeit, Gesundheit und Soziales des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen):
Die Landesregierung verschärft ihren Kampf gegen Kinderarbeit: Künftig dürfen Grabsteine aus China, Indien, den Philippinen und Vietnam in Nordrhein-Westfalen nur noch dann aufgestellt werden, wenn sie mit hinreichender Wahrscheinlichkeit ohne schlimmste Formen von Kinderarbeit hergestellt worden sind.

European Union told to ask India to "stop" child, forced labour in granite mining units, exporting stone to West, China (CounterView):
Prajapati, 14, a migrant boy belonging to the Adipathi scheduled tribe (ST), works in a granite quarry in Telangana. Belonging to Thapagada village in Malkangiri district, Odisha, he completed his primary school and dropped out. His father received an "advance" of Rs 2000 from a middleman, and sent Prajapati along with some other boys of his village for work in a granite quarry at Bahupet village in Telangana.
“Many young boys like me from my village are working in granite quarries and factories around Karimnagar town,” Prajapati told a group of researchers, who have authored the report, The Dark Sites of Granite: Modern slavery, child labour and unsafe work in Indian granite quarries.

Children stitch shoes for global market in India's tourist magnet (Reuters):
Children as young as eight miss school and toil in hazardous conditions to make shoes for the global market in Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, campaigners said, calling on shoe brands to work with the local government to clean up their supply chains.

New Report Proposes Strategies for Reducing Child Labour in Agra, India (Fair Labor Association/Stop Child Labour):
Fair Labor Association and Stop Child Labour Recommend Creation of ‘Child Labour Free Zone’ and More Responsible and Transparent Supply Chains in Leather and Footwear Production .

Getting children Out of Work and into School: Combining bottom-up and top-down strategies to stop child labour (Stop Child Labour):
In the run-up to the IV Global Child Labour Conference in Argentina from 14 to 16 November 2017, the Stop Child Labour Coalition has published a position paper with a focus on combining bottom-up and top-down strategies to eradicate child labour.

IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour (Stop Child Labour):
Representatives of the Stop Child Labour Coalition participate in the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 14 – 16 November 2017.
The Conference brings together representatives of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as civil society organizations from around the world to discuss the problem of child labour and possible solutions.

India: Superpower aspirations while 21 percent of children waste away (Asian Human Rights Commission):
With the publication of the 2017 Global Hunger Index Report, it is clear that India’s dreams of becoming a superpower, with world class airports and bullet trains, are all hyperbole. The utopian narrative of modern India overlooks the fact that it is a country that fell three places down to 100 in the 2017 Hunger Index, and 45 places down overall since 2014. It is also a country which has 21 percent of its children wasted, a one-percentage point increase from 1990-1994, when it was at 20. In other words, for nearly 25 years straight, India has failed its children, while moving ahead in other areas.

New ILO research reveals the true scale of child labour around the world (Stop Child Labour):
New research developed jointly by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has revealed the true scale of child labour and modern slavery around the world. The report Global Estimates of Child Labour: Results and Trends, 2012-2016, released during the United Nations General Assembly on 19 September 2017, shows that about 152 million children, aged between 5 and 17, are subject to child labour.

Forced Labor and Child Trafficking in India’s Garment Sector (The Asia Foundation):
The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that 168 million children worldwide are considered child laborers. This means that almost 11 percent of the world’s children are working, which interferes with their ability to get an education, and jeopardizes their safety and their ability to experience childhood. The largest number of laborers in the 5 to 17-year-old age group is still found in the Asia-Pacific region.
...
A study by the India Committee of the Netherlands suggests that almost half a million children—the majority of them girls from Dalit (low caste) and Adivasi (tribal) families—work on cotton-seed farms.

Flintshire firm sourcing granite from child labour quarry according to a major human rights report (Invest Money UK):
A Buckley based kitchen worktop supplier has been named in a damning report on working conditions in granite quarries in India.
A report by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and Stop Child Labour has revealed major human rights and labour rights violations.

Top UK Retailers Withdraw Indian Granite Over Child Labour Concerns (Little India):
Two leading retail chains in the United Kingdom have withdrawn a range of granite worktops from their stores following reports that the rock is mined in India by child workers. The retail groups, John Lewis and Habitat, took the decision after investigations revealed that their Indian supply chains are riddled with issues such as debt bondage, underage workers, and unsafe working conditions in quarries.
Many other firms dealing in granite products such as kitchen counters, tiles, fireplaces and tombstones may also look into their supply chains following a recent report on workers’ rights in quarries in three Indian states by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). The report revealed that over half of the labourers employed in the industry in these states work under dangerous conditions because they have to repay big loans, and get caught in a cycle of debt bondage.

Habitat and John Lewis remove products connected to child labour (Retail Gazette):
Habitat and John Lewis have stopped selling certain granite worktops after it was revealed that child labour and slavery may have been used to mine them.
Findings from a new study conducted by the India Committee of The Nederlands (ICN) revealed that many of India’s major granite mines violated labour and human rights laws.

John Lewis and Habitat withdraw granite worktops over slavery concerns (The Guardian):
Supply chains of high street retailers under scrutiny after investigators uncover evidence of human rights violations and child labour in Indian stone quarries.
...
India is the largest global producer of granite, accounting for 49% of the world’s raw stone export in 2015. Three-quarters of the country’s granite is mined in just three states – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. An investigation of 22 quarries and six waste stone processing sites in these states, recently published by the Dutch organisations India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and Stop Child Labour, revealed major human rights and labour rights violations.

John Lewis and Habitat halt sale of worktops over slavery claims (The Observer):
Stone sold in UK shops is from Indian quarries that abuse human rights, investigation reveals.
British retailers have withdrawn a range of granite worktops from sale over concerns that their supply chains may be associated with slavery and child labour.
John Lewis and Habitat are among a number of UK businesses selling granite products such as kitchen worktops, tiles and gravestones that have also come under pressure to investigate their supply chains after a report discovered that debt bondage, underage workers and unsafe, unhealthy working conditions are part of daily working life in Indian quarries.
India is the largest global producer of granite, accounting for 49% of the world’s raw stone export in 2015. Threequarters of the country’s granite is mined in three states – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
An investigation of 22 quarries and six waste stone processing sites in these states carried out by the Dutch organisations India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and Stop Child Labour, revealed major human rights and labour rights violations.

UK chains withdraw granite range over slavery concerns (Financial Express)/
UK chains withdraw granite range over slavery concerns (Crowdz)/
UK Firms John Lewis And Habitat Withdraw Granite Worktops Over Child Slavery Concerns In India (HuffPost India - Sep 4, 2017)/
UK chains withdraw granite range over slavery concerns (City Today - Sep 4, 2017):
Leading UK retail chains like John Lewis and Habitat have withdrawn granite products from their range over fears of child labour and slavery within its Indian supply chains.
...
An investigation of 22 quarries and six waste stone processing sites in these states were recently published by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and Stop Child Labour and revealed human rights and labour rights violations.

Dutch firms get granite from child labour quarries in India (New Europe):
Human rights groups in the Netherlands have harshly criticised three Dutch companies for importing granite – used to make luxury kitchen countertops – from Indian quarries that use child labour.
As reported by Dutch News online, the claims are based on investigation into working conditions and export data.

‘Children, bonded workers slave in India’s granite quarries’ (The Times of India):
Many homes have granite floors and kitchen platforms; granite is regularly used on tombstones. While using these sleek, easy-to-clean surfaces, we seldom pause to consider the conditions under which the stone is extracted and processed. A report released by Dutch NGOs Stop Child Labour, India Committee of the Netherlands and Kerk in Actie (Church in Action) shows that half the global export of granite is from India; about 10% of all natural stone traded on the world market is from India, which is one of the top five producers of the world's natural stone. Yet, conditions in stone quarries are deplorable.

India: Modern Slavery in Granite Quarries (The Sri Lanka Guardian)/
India: Modern Slavery in Granite Quarries (VisitSriLanka.com - Aug 25, 2017):
New research, commissioned by the India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour, reveals that modern slavery, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions are rampant in granite quarries in South India. In some quarries, especially in waste stone processing, child labour is found.

Dark Sites of Indian Granite Quarries: Modern Slavery, Child Labour and Unsafe Work (India Resists):
New research, commissioned by the India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour, reveals that modern slavery, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions are rampant in granite quarries in South India. In some quarries, especially in waste stone processing, child labour is found.

The dark sites of granite: modern slavery, child labour and unsafe work in Indian Granite Quarries (India Environment Portal):
New research, commissioned by the India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour, reveals that modern slavery, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions are rampant in granite quarries in South India. In some quarries, especially in waste stone processing, child labour is found.

New report: The Dark Sites of Granite (Stop Child Labour):
Modern slavery, child labour and unsafe work in Indian granite quarries – What should companies do?
New research, commissioned by the India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour, reveals that modern slavery, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions are rampant in granite quarries in South India. In some quarries, especially in waste stone processing, child labour is found.

Three Dutch firms are sourcing granite from child labour quarries (DutchNews.nl):
Three Dutch companies which import stone from abroad have bought granite from quarries in India where child labour is used, Trouw said on Wednesday.
Some of the workers in the quarries are also vulnerable to debt slavery because of debts owed to their employer, according to a new report by three Dutch NGOs. The NGOs base their claims on an investigation into working conditions and export data.

India: Report finds modern slavery, child labour & unsafe work at granite quarries - What should companies do? (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre):
New research ... reveals that modern slavery, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions are rampant in granite quarries in South India. In some quarries, especially in waste stone processing, child labour is found. There is an enormous gap in working conditions between permanent workers (mainly supervisors) and casual workers (70% of the workforce). The first group receives safety equipment, insurance and an employment contract, while the casual labourers doing the dangerous manual work, lack those fundamental labour rights.

Dutch companies sell granite mined by Indian child laborers: report (NL Times):
At least three Dutch companies sold granite that came from quarries in India using child laborers or debt slaves, according to a study by Dutch groups Landelijke India Werkgroep, Stop Kinderarbed and Kerk in Actie, newspaper Trouw reported on Thursday.
The study focused on South Indian states. The researchers investigated the working conditions in 22 quarries and at six locations where granite is processed. In seven quarries they found child labor and in nine debt slavery - where someone is forced to work unpaid to settle debt.

Successes and lessons from Stop Child Labour evaluation (Stop Child Labour):
An external Stop Child Labour evaluation concludes that there is a significant reduction of child labour and increased school attendance in child labour free zones. The evaluation furthers confirms the broader impact in child labour free zones on health, safety, social cohesion, incomes of adults and an existing norm that no child should work and all children should go to school.

India has world’s highest number of stunted children, child workers (The Hindustan Times):
India now has the highest number of children stunted due to malnutrition – 48.2 million, equivalent to the population of Colombia, as per the latest global report on childhood. Also, 31 million of its children are a part of its workforce, the highest number in the world.

India to legalise mica mining in bid to tackle endemic child labour (The Guardian):
India is to legalise the mining of mica, a sparkly mineral used in eyeshadows and car paint, in a bid to cut the number of children who labour – and often die – to produce it.
The announcement comes nearly a year after a series of Guardian investigations into mica found that crippling poverty forces many families and their children to mine the highly prized mineral, with as many as 20,000 children believed to be working in the mines, about 90% of which are illegal.

Send children 'to work' at school to end child labour in India - activists (Thomson Reuters Foundation):
Brands sourcing garments, shoes, leather and natural stones from India must help create and sustain child labour-free zones by mapping their supply chains and working with communities to boost school enrolment, activists said on Tuesday.

'They need to take responsibility and use profits to keep children in school': Activists call on brands to do more to stop child labour in India (Daily Mail):
More onus should be placed on brands sourcing garments, shoes, leather and natural stones from India to curb child labour, activists said on Tuesday.
Companies were told they should help create and sustain child labour-free zones by mapping supply chains and working with communities to boost school enrolment.
The Stop Child Labour Coalition of charities recently launched a campaign with guidelines for companies to help ensure that children living in 'labour hotspots' finish school.

India ratifies two international ILO conventions against child labour (ICN):
On March 31, 2017, the Indian government ratified two conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on child labour. It concerns Convention 138 which determines the minimum age for employment. Normally that is 15 years, but countries can also opt for 14 years. The other treaty, ILO Convention 182, stipulates that children under the age of 18 should not be allowed to do hazardous work or any work that is detrimental to their morals and physical or mental health.

Child labourers exposed to toxic chemicals dying before 50, WHO says (The Guardian):
Children as young as eight, working in the tanneries of Bangladesh producing leather that is in demand across Europe and the USA, are exposed to toxic chemical cocktails that are likely to shorten their lives, according to a new report.

Dutch Parliament backs child labour due diligence law (Just-Style.com)
The Dutch Parliament has adopted a law requiring companies to determine whether child labour occurs in their supply chains – and set out a plan of action on how to combat it.
The Child Labour Due Diligence Law ('Wet Zorgplicht Kinderarbeid') now heads to the Senate after last month's vote, and if approved will come into force from 1 January 2020.

Cooperating with the Private Sector in Child Labour Free Zones in India (Stop Child Labour)
Efforts to reduce and remediate child labour require attention from multiple angles. One key element is the role of the private sector. This guide focuses on how CBOs, NGOs and Trade Unions can effectively engage private sector actors in their efforts to eradicate child labour.

Kindersklaverei als Geschäftsmodell: Zwangsarbeit in Indiens Spinnereien (Südasien)
Nicht zum ersten Mal berichtet Südasien über Formen der Zwangsarbeit oder Leibeigenschaft in Südasien. Entgegen dem häufigen Eindruck, es handele sich um überkommene, vormoderne Formen der Ausbeutung lassen die folgenden Ausführungen wie auch andere Artikel in diesem Heft den Schluss zu: Zwangsarbeit und Sklaverei gehören zum Geschäftsmodell des modernen, in den Weltraum strebenden Indien dazu. Es handelt sich nicht um letzte Reste einer archaischen Wirtschaft, sondern das Modell gebiert wie andere Geschäftszweige den Wohlstand des Landes. Wir wollen differenzieren: überwiegend in Wirtschaftszweigen, die ihren Erlös wesentlich aus der billigen Handarbeit schöpfen. Der im Dezember 2016 veröffentlichte Bericht der NGO India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) zum Thema Kindersklaverei belegt dies augenscheinlich.

Child Labour Due Diligence Law for companies adopted by Dutch Parliament (ICN)
On February 7, 2017 the Child Labour Due Diligence Law [‘Wet Zorgplicht Kinderarbeid’], initiated by member Van Laar (Labour Party), was adopted by the Dutch Parliament, with 82 votes (of 150 MPs) in favour. The parties CDA (Christian Democrats), VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) and PVV (Party for Freedom) voted against. The law requires companies to examine whether child labour occurs in their production chain. If that is the case they should develop a plan of action to combat child labour and draw up a declaration about their investigation and plan of action. That statement will be recorded in a public register by a yet to be designated public authority.

Garment brands contribute to low wages & child labour in Bangladesh (Stop Child Labour):
The average worker in the Bangladeshi garment industry is getting paid only one third of what is considered to be a living wage. Low wages and long working hours have been found to play a key role in parents’ decisions to take their children out of school and let them work in various jobs. Many international garment brands, including but not only H&M, C&A, Esprit, Marks & Spencer, GAP, VF Corporation and Kmart Australia, contribute to this situation.
These are important findings of the report Branded Childhood that is published by Stop Child Labour and SOMO today.

Bangladesh’s Children Are Working 60 Hours a Week to Make Our “Fast Fashion” (Ecouterre):
It’s time to face the awful truth: Those cheap clothes we can’t get enough are probably the handiwork of impoverished children from Bangladesh, some as young as 6. About a third of the children who live in the slums of the capital of Dhaka spend an average of 64 hours a week making clothing for the world’s leading brands and retailers, according to the Overseas Development Institute. The London-based think tank, which conducted a survey of 2,700 households, found that 32 percent of 10- to 14-year-olds were skipping school so they could work full time at garment factories. Most of them earned less than $2 a day. “Our survey raises serious concerns over the issue of child labor in the supply of garments from factories in Bangladesh to consumers in Europe, the U.S., and elsewhere,” ODI said.

Scale of child slavery in spinning mills "shocking" (Dalit Post, p4):
Various forms of slavery, including child labour, are present in more than 90 percent of south India’s spinning mills which produce yarn for Western brands, researchers said, calling for mapping of supply chains and tougher audits.
The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), a human rights organisation, spoke to workers from almost half the mills in Tamil Nadu, the largest producer of cotton yarn in the country.

Brands urged to tackle child slavery in India spinning mills (Just-Style.com):
Various forms of modern slavery, including child slavery, have been found in around 90% of spinning mills in South India producing yarn that makes its way into garment factories in India, Bangladesh and China supplying western brands and retailers, a new report claims.
The Fabric of Slavery research by the India Committee of Netherlands (ICN), found the majority of women working in the 743 spinning mills investigated in Tamil Nadu were aged between 14 and 18 years. Around 10-20% of the women were younger than 14.

Multi-stakeholder meeting on child labour in leather and footwear in Agra, India (16/17 February 2017) (Stop Child Labour):
On 16 - 17 February 2017, The Fair Labor Association, Stop Child Labour Coalition and iMentor are organizing a multi-stakeholder meeting titled Strengthening Children’s Rights and Decent Work in the Agra Leather and Footwear Cluster.

Child Labour Free Zones in India (flyer Stop Child Labour):
A child labour free zone is a specific area, such as a village, plantation, urban neighborhood or an industrial cluster, where everyone is convinced that ‘No child should be working, every child should be in school!

India Committee of the Netherlands research finds large-scale violations in Indian spinning mills (The Freedom Fund):
A new report – Fabric of Slavery – published by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) exposes the scale of human rights violations against girls and young women in spinning mills in Tamil Nadu, South India. Although the textile industry is vital for jobs and the local economy, this new research finds that abuses amounting to forms of modern slavery such as withholding wages, lack of freedom of movement, excessive working hours, and sexual harassment are widespread.

Public declaration of creation of Child Labour Free Zones in Tirupur & Statelevel Consulation on stepping stones for Child Labour Free Zone (CLFZ) (SAVE):
The people of 16 and 17th ward formally declared Pandiyan Nagar and Annanagar in Tirupur as Child Labour Free Zones (CLFZ). Child Labour Free Zones are geographical areas where no distinction is made between different forms of child Labour and where all children are withdrawn from labour and reenrolled into formal schools.

Child Labour Free Zone area based approach in Tirupur ward no 16 & 17 (SAVE/YouTube)

Fabric of Slavery: Large-scale child slavery in Indian spinning mills making yarn for international garment brands (press release ICN):
New research by the India Committee of Netherlands (ICN) shows that various forms of modern slavery, including child slavery, are found in more than 90% of the spinning mills in South India. These spinning mills produce yarn for India, Bangladeshi and Chinese garment factories that produce for the Western market.

Kinderarbeit im Natursteinsektor Chinas? (Jigsaw):
Mit der Reform des Bestattungsgesetzes (BestG) für Nordrhein - Westfalen (NRW), insbesondere § 4a BestG, hat das Landesparlament 2014 die Grundlagen dafür geschaffen, dass auf den Friedhöfen NRWs lediglich Grabmäler und Grabeinfassungen aus Naturstein aufgestellt werden dürfen, sofern sie nachweislich ohne ausbeuterische Kinderarbeit hergestellt wurden. Im nachfolgenden Gutachten soll nun geprüft werden, ob bei der Herstellung (d.h. Gewinnung, Be - und Verarbeitung) von Natursteinen, die in Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) für die Produktion von Grabmälern und Grabeinfassungen verwendet werden können und aus China in die EU eingeführt werden, gegen schlimmste Formen von ausbeuterischer Kinderarbeit im Sinne des IAO - Abkommens Nr. 182 über das Verbot und unverzügliche Maßnahmen zur Beseitigung der schlimmsten Formen der Kinderarbeit verstoßen wird.

Second annual report Out of work and into School (Stop Kinderarbeid):
Stop Child Labour (SCL) started the Out of Work project in May 2014, as part of our broader programme to eliminate and remediate all forms of child labour linked to the right to education for all children.

Successful National Consultation on Child Labour Free Zones in India (Stop Child Labour):
In August, Stop Child Labour organized the National Consultation Stepping Stones for creating Child Labour Free Zones in New Delhi, India. The purpose of the consultation was to share best practices and the concept of the area based approach towards creating child labour free zones with different stakeholders and to explore avenues of collaboration in addressing the issue of child labour.

India’s New Child-Labor Loophole (The Nation):
India’s new landmark child-labor bill should be a reason for children and human-rights advocates to celebrate, but it’s the bosses who are celebrating instead. Between the lines of a seemingly progressive law, some loopholes officially sanction child exploitation in one of the world’s major bastions of underage labor.

India’s Children Are Dying for Your Sparkly Eye Shadow (Ecouterre):
India has a “blood mica” problem. Deep within the South Asian nation’s off-the-books “ghost” mines, children as young as 5 toil alongside adults to pick and sort the mineral that gives makeup and car paint their coveted shimmer. A three-month investigation by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, however, found that children were risking more than superficial injuries or respiratory infections; they were also dying. In the major mica-producing states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh, where child labor is rampant, seven were killed in the past two months alone. Fewer than 10 percent of these deaths are reported, according to Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a child-welfare organization founded by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, whose name means “Save the Childhood Movement” in Hindi.

New Indian Child Labour Bill allows many children to work (ICN):
India has a new law against child labour. Or more precisely: the old Child Labour Act of 1986 was recently amended. On July 19, 2016, the Indian Upper House (Rajya Sabha) approved the amendments.
Has the law been improved after so many years of struggle against child labour and with partial success in practice? On some points it is, but Indian child rights activists and many others are very disappointed in the significant loopholes in the law which even might increase child labour – especially of children below 14 years of age.

Why India Has So Many Slaves (Asia Society):
The issue of slavery has not dominated international headlines for decades, but that doesn't mean the practice no longer exists: Roughly 46 million people — the equivalent to Spain's total population — around the world live in slavery, a fact that challenges perceptions of progress in human rights.

The New Law Banning Child Labour is No Ban At All (The Wire):
The amendment seeks to abolish all forms of child labour, but includes a proviso that allows children up to the age of 14 years to work after school hours in ‘family enterprises’.

Stop Child Labour welcomes promised EU action against child labour (Stop Child Labour):
The Council of the European Union – all 28 member states together – on the 20th of June published its conclusions on child labour and called for a joint approach to tackle all forms of child labour.

Textile sector still in knots over child labour (The Hindu):
Textile units in Tamil Nadu have grabbed headlines several times in the past for the wrong reasons. Non-governmental organisations, including international organisations, have alleged that child workers are employed in many textile mills and that some units that employ young women do not provide adequate facilities for those who stay in hostels within the mill premises.

Childhood murderers (My Republica):
Have you ever even thought of the child exploitation behind some of the foreign brand garments you wear?
The theme of The World Day Against Child Labour 2016 (June 12) is precise and to the point: "End child labour in supply chains—It’s everyone’s business!"

Electronics companies are yet doing far too little to eradicate child labour from gold mining (Stop Child Labour):
Electronics companies are not making a big enough effort to combat child labour in gold mining. This is the conclusion of a survey by SOMO commissioned by Stop Child Labour. The electronics industry is the third largest buyer of gold in the world.

World Day Against Child Labour – focus on supply chains (Stop Child Labour):
This year, the focus for World Day Against Child Labour - 12 June - is on child labour and supply chains. With 168 million children still in child labour, all supply chains, from agriculture to manufacturing, services to construction, run the risk that child labour may be present.

India Has the Most People Living in Modern Slavery (The Wall Street Journal):
India has more people living in modern slavery than the population of the Netherlands, a new report estimates.
Of the 167 countries surveyed, the South Asian country has the highest number of people living in slavery–more than 18 million people, or 1.4% of the population.

Made by Children (All About Lady Things):
Quantas vezes não ouvimos dizer aos nossos miúdos "Come a sopa toda, há meninos no mundo que não têm o que comer!", "Estás a queixar-te porque não te dou o que queres? Há meninos que não têm nada e não se queixam!" , "Há meninos da tua idade que já trabalham! Sabias??" e, porra, isto é dito com tamanha leviandade que passou de informação chocante a pregão nacional.
...
Segundo a SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) e a ICN (India Committee of the Netherlands) os inúmeros empregadores inescrupulosos prometem às famílias que proporcionarão às suas crianças educação, refeições e melhores condições de vida o que não corresponde de todo às condições de escravatura às quais sujeitam as crianças.

In India's quarries, workers die to make pretty garden tiles (Thomson Reuters Foundation News):
Many workers in Indian stone quarries, including children, dying of incurable lung disease to produce garden and kitchen tiles.

Labour talk: A dialogue in different tongues (The Times of India):
It was a session intended to foster a dialogue between different sections of society - mine workers, businessmen engaged in the stone business, NGOs and government agencies - to figure out how best to deal with the issue of child labour. The dialogue was an effort of NGO Aravali, in collaboration with Unicef.

For better social fabric, apparel makers under global eye (The Economic Times):
Indian apparel suppliers including those catering to global brands such as Gap, H&M and Marks & Spencer will now be monitored for unfair trade practices, following the signing of an agreement by a consortium of international agencies including the UNICEF, Stop Child Labour and Solidaridad.

Broad support for plan to eliminate child labour from the garment and textile industry (Stop Child Labour):
Stop Child Labour welcomes the broad support for the elimination of child labour, forced (child) labour, low wages and other abuses in the global garment and textile industry. Sector associations, the government, trade unions and civil society organizations - including Stop Child Labour – have agreed on a ‘covenant’ to address these issues in the coming years.

Stop Child Labour Coalition: Reporting on results (ICN):
Stop Child Labour (SCL) consists of six Dutch organisations and partner organisations in India and a range of African countries. In May 2014 SCL started the Out of Work and into School project as part of its mission to eliminate and remediate all forms of child labour linked to the right to education for all children, while between 2012 and 2015 it implemented the programme Omar’s Dream.

Exposed: Child labour behind smart phone and electric car batteries (Amnesty International):
Major electronics brands, including Apple, Samsung and Sony, are failing to do basic checks to ensure that cobalt mined by child labourers has not been used in their products, said Amnesty International and Afrewatch in a report published today.
The report, This is what we die for: Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt, traces the sale of cobalt, used in lithium-ion batteries, from mines where children as young as seven and adults work in perilous conditions.

Child ‘camp coolies’ in Tamil Nadu (LiveMint.com):
Tamil Nadu is one of India’s most industrialized states. But its hidden face is the employment of several hundred thousand impoverished children and adolescents—mostly girls but also some boys—in its spinning mills. The conditions are reprehensible; months-long confinement and gruelling daily schedules of long hours of toil. By employing what are called child camp coolies, their employers break many laws of the land and damage a great many childhoods.

Indian Schools Are Failing Their Students (International New York Times):
For the first time in more than two decades, the Indian government is conducting a comprehensive review of its education policy. The goal is to devise an approach better adapted to the “changing dynamics of the population,” namely its youthfulness, in order to make India a “knowledge superpower.”

Low Procurement Prices Fuelling Child Labour in Vegetable Seed Business (The Wire):
Nearly 156,000 minors, about 50,000 of them below 14 years of age, are currently engaged in producing vegetable seeds in India. Many of them have been employed by multinational and Indian companies. These and other aspects of exploitation of minors and women have been documented in a study, Soiled Seeds.

Twilight children (The Hindu):
Children and adolescents, mostly girls, toil in factories in conditions of near-slavery. This is the hidden face of manufacturing units in the flourishing industrial hubs of Tamil Nadu.

At This Bangladesh Sweatshop, Children Make Our Clothing for Little to No Pay (Ecouterre):
Claudio Montesano Casillas didn’t know what he was in for when he signed up for a tour of Old Dhaka in Bangladesh. It was only the photojournalist’s second day in the South Asian country, but already he had encountered one of the city’s less savory claims to fame. In some of the thousands of small, unregulated “shadow” facilities that litter Bangladesh’s landscape, Casillas witnessed men, women, and children toiling for hours over cutting tables and sewing machines to make clothing for the Western world. “The factories I saw did not correspond with my idea of a factory—a shiny well-organized place with large-scale production,” he wrote in a blog post for Fashion Revolution, an awareness-raising movement born in the aftermath of the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory, which killed 1,138 people in April 2013.

Response to the report "Soiled Seeds: Child Labor and Underpayment of Women in Vegetable Seed Production in India" (East-West Seed International):
East-West Seed recognizes the issue of child labor in seed production in India and has taken steps to combat this serious social and economic problem. We fully support the mission of the India Committee of the Netherlands as we strive for the same goal: total elimination of child labor in India.

Response to the report Soiled Seeds: Child Labour and Underpayment of Women in Vegetable Seed Production in India (East-West Seed):
East-West Seed recognizes the issue of child labour in seed production in India and has taken steps to combat this serious social and economic problem. We fully support the mission of the India Committee of the Netherlands as we strive for the same goal: total elimination of child labour in India.

Still too many children out of school (The Hindu Business Line):
Government surveys on out-of-school children are gross underestimations. The Census numbers, however, are a shocker.

23 girls rescued from spinning mill in Tirupur (The Hindu):
As many as 23 girls aged between 11 and 18 years were rescued from a spinning mill at Olapalayam village near Kangayam, in Tirupur District on Sunday. They were rescued in an operation carried out by officials and police, led by Revenue Division Officer (RDO) of Dharapuram G. Saravanamurthy.

29% spike in child labour in 7 yrs in Guj cotton fields (DNA Syndication):
Gujarat’s galloping cotton production hides behind it a cruel fact- the use of children as farm labourers in the cotton fields of the state. In fact, Gujarat is the only state among the five states of India, where Bt cotton production is high, to register an increase in the number of child labourers employed in the cotton field. The number of children (below the age of 14 years) employed in the cotton fields saw 29.4% increase from the year 2006-07 to 2014-15.  The number of children employed was 86,360 in 2006-07 which rose to 1,10,400 in 2014-15.

1.10 Lakh child labourers in Gujarat: NGO report (Tube Tamil)

1.10 Lakh Child Labourers Work on Gujarat's Fields: NGO Report (The New Indian Express)/
1.10 Lakh Child Labourers Work on Gujarat's Fields: NGO Report (Business Standard)/
1.10 Lakh Child Labourers Work on Gujarat's Fields: NGO Report (Zee News)/
1.10 lakh child labourers work on Gujarat's fields: NGO report (NewsUnited.com)/
1.10 lakh child labourers work on Gujarat's fields: NGO report (Bharat Press)/
1.10 lakh child labourers work on Gujarat's fields: NGO report (India Everyday - Sep 10, 2015):
Gujarat accounts for 55 per cent of the country's child labour working in cottonseed production and the total number of children working in such fields has reached 1.10 lakh, according to an NGO study report released here today.

The Plight of Cottonseed Workers Reveals Why Child Labour Persists (The Wire):
A recent study has revealed that nearly half a million children in India — the majority of them girls belonging to Dalit, adivasi and OBC families — are illegally engaged in producing the cottonseeds that forms the basis of our garment industry. Of which, more than 2,00,000 children are aged below 14. One of the findings is that, contrary to popular perception, the majority of these child workers are employed by companies, rather than in family farms owned by subsistence farmers.

Niedriglöhne und Kinderarbeit - Arbeit in der Produktion von Baumwollsaatgut in Indien (Südwind e.V.):
Bevor Baumwolle zu Garn versponnen und dieses dann zu Stoffen verwoben werden kann, ist eine Reihe von Produktionsschritten nötig. Dies fängt damit an, dass
1. das Saatgut für die Baumwollpflanze gewonnen werden muss,
2. die Baumwollpflanze angebaut und deren Frucht, die u.a. aus Rohbaumwolle besteht, geerntet wird und dann schließlich
3. die Samen aus der Rohbaumwolle in einem Entkernungsprozess entfernt und die Baumwollfasern gewonnen werden.
Das vorliegende Fact-Sheet gibt einen Überblick über die Strukturen und Arbeitsbedingungen im ersten Produktionsschritt, der Baumwollsaatgutproduktion, im indischen Bundesstaat Gujarat.

Workshop on Strategies to Combat Child Labour and Address Minimum Wage Issues in Hybrid Seed Production in India - Proceedings and Highlights (CCP Steering Committee):
The issue of child labour in hybrid seeds production in India continues to receive national and international attention. Despite some improvements in the recent years, the total number of children employed in this sector remains high.

Healthy sign: study reveals decline in child labour in cotton fields (The Hindu):
With issues of child labour in hybrid cotton seed production in the country receiving global attention, a study has revealed that there is a sharp decline in the number of children below 14 years employed in the highly labour intensive activity in the recent years.
The study was jointly conducted by India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), an NGO involved in advocacy work on human rights issues and Stop Child Labour, a coalition of NGOs and trade unions, between July 2014 and January 2015.

O trabalho infantil ainda é explorando largamente na colheira de algodão da Índia (StyloUrbano):
Um novo relatório da Stop Child Labour Coalition e da India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) revelou que 60% dos trabalhadores rurais de sementes de algodão na Índia são crianças o que dá um total de quase meio milhão de jovens. Apropriadamente intitulado de Cotton’s Forgotten Children, o relatório detalhado mostrou que a maioria destes trabalhadores rurais estão abaixo da idade de 18 anos, sendo que muitos tem menos de 14 anos de idade.

Response sought in the Dian case along with trafficking of child labour (Rajasthan Patrika):
Recognizing the seriousness of trafficking of children from the tribal belt of the Division to BT cottonseed plots of Gujarat by the traffickers, the Rajasthan High Court has asked the state Government to respond. The Court made its comments in a public interest litigation despite the tall claims made by the state Government about the development of the tribal areas. The recent report of the India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour Campaign was handed over to the Court today.

Nearly Half a Million Children Toil in India’s Cottonseed Fields (Ecouterre):
A new report by the Stop Child Labour Coalition and the India Committee of the Netherlands has revealed that 60 percent of cotton seed farm laborers in India are children. Appropriately entitled Cotton’s Forgotten Children, the in-depth report has shown that most of these farm workers are under the age of 18, many under 14 years old. The report is part of an effort to crack down on child labor in India, which has risen since 2010.

Inde: Un demi-million d’enfants dans les champs de coton (Comité de Soutien à la Révolution en Inde):
Alors que l’Inde sera le 1er producteur mondial de coton sur la saison 2015-16, quelque 25% de ses travailleurs seraient des enfants de moins de 14 ans. Un demi-million de mineurs officieraient ainsi aux récoltes, selon une étude locale. C’est dans son rapport intitulé Les enfants oubliés du coton que le professeur indien Davuluri Venkateswarlu avance ces chiffres.

(RajasthanPatrika.com):
[ Publication on the report Cotton's Forgotten Children in the main local newspaper of Rajasthan - Rajasthan Patrika.
The news item quotes extensively from the report to show the continued incidence of trafficking of children to cottonseed plots. ]

Hindistan’ın unutulan pamuk toplayan çocuk işçileri (Gaia Dergi):
Her daim görmezden gelinen ve eksik bir sekilde rapor edilen çocuk işçiliği sorununa dikkat çekmesiyle gözler, yazar Mari Marcel Thekaekara’ya çevrildi. Uzun yıllar boyunca Hindistan’ın Adivasi ve Dalit Halkları’nın sorunları hakkında yazan yazar bu kez ise Hindistan’da pamuk alanında çalişan çocuk işçiler sorununa değinerek konunun yeniden gün yüzüne çıkmasını ve tartışılmasını sağladı. Yazarın Hindistan’ın pamuk sektöründe çalışan çocuk işçileriyle ilgili söyledikleri gerçekten sorunun ürkütücü boyutlarda olduğunu gözler önüne seriyor.

INDE – Les enfants oubliés de l’industrie du coton (Solidarité Dalits Belgique):
Yadamma est une jeune fille de 14 ans, originaire d’une famille de main-d’œuvre agricole dalit dans un village isolé de l’Andhra Pradesh. Cela fait trois ans qu’elle travaille dans les champs de coton et qu’elle ne va pas à l’école. [...] Le cas de Yadamma est un des exemples décrits dans le nouveau rapport Enfants oubliés du coton, publié par le Comité néerlandais sur l’Inde (ICN) et la Campagne contre le travail des enfants Stop Child Labour Campaign, qui constate que près d’un demi-million d’enfants en Inde travaille dans l’industrie de la production du coton. La plupart d’entre eux sont des dalits, adivasis ou appartenant à d’autres basses castes (OBC). Le rapport avertit que la plupart de ces enfants ne fréquentent pas l’école et sont soumis à des travaux dangereux et des produits chimiques nocifs.

500.000 børn producerer bomuld i Indien (Globalnyt):
Delstatsregeringer i Indien beskyldes for at være ligeglade med, at hundredetusinder af mindrårige arbejder i bomuldsindustrien. Arbejdsforholdene er hårde og farlige og de fleste kommer fra andre dele af landet og må derfor også undvære deres familier.

Inde: un demi-million d’enfants dans les champs de coton (FashionMag.com):
Alors que l’Inde sera le 1er producteur mondial de coton sur la saison 2015-16, quelque 25% de ses travailleurs seraient des enfants de moins de 14 ans. Un demi-million de mineurs officieraient ainsi aux récoltes, selon une étude locale.

Indien: Fast eine halbe Million Kinder in der Baumwollproduktion (Aktiv Gegen Kinderarbeit):
Fast eine halbe Million Kinder in Indien arbeiten an der Basis unserer Kleidung und aller anderen Textilerzeugnisse, die wir benutzen. Sie produzieren Baumwollsamen für neue Baumwollpflanzen, indem sie jeden Samen einzeln aus der Blüte entfernen. Rund 200.000 von ihnen sind unter 14 Jahre alt. Das entspricht 25 Prozent der Arbeitskräfte auf den Baumwollsaaterntefeldern. Weitere 35% der Belegschaft sind Kinder zwischen 14 und 18 Jahren.
Dies sind Ergebnisse der Studie Cotton’s Forgotten Children von Indiens Langzeitexperten Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu.

India cottonseed child labour on the rise (Just-Style.com):
Children below 14 constitute around 25% of the workforce in India's cotton fields, a new report has found, a number that has increased over the last five years.
Results of the study, Cotton’s Forgotten Children by India’s Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu, found that around half a million Indian children are working to produce cotton seed - the basis for garments and other textile products.

Half million Indian children produce cottonseed (People's Voice):
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.

ÍNDIA – Mais de quinhentas mil crianças trabalham nos campos de algodão em condições perigosas (Pime Animação):
Continua crescendo o número de crianças que trabalha nos campos de algodão. De acordo com um estudo publicado pela Comissão Indio holandesa e pela Stop Child Labour, entidade privada, na Índia, se trata de 200 mil menores de 14 anos, idade mínima legal para trabalhar no país asiático.

ASIA/INDIA – Over half a million children engaged in risky work in cotton fields (Agenzia Fides):
The number of children working in cotton fields continues to rise. According to a survey by the Indo-Dutch Committee and the private body Stop Child Labour Coalition, in India this activity involves some 200,000 minors age 14, minimum legal age for labour in the country. This year India is expected to become the world’s largest cotton producing country.

New report: Low caste children suffer in India’s cottonseed industry (IDSN):
The new report Cotton’s Forgotten Children, released by the Stop Child Labour Campaign and the India Committee on the Netherlands (ICN), finds that almost half a million children in India work as child labourers in the cottonseed production industry. Most of them are Dalits, Adivasis or other low caste children (OBCs). The report warns that most of these children are not in school and are subjected to hazardous work and harmful chemicals.

TN Sees Steep Drop in Kids Employed in Cotton Fields (The New Indian Express):
Tamil Nadu has shown a significant decline in the total number of children employed in cottonseed farms from 2006-7 to 2014-15, according to recent studies.
A recent report, Cotton’s Forgotten Children by NGOs ‘Stop Child Labour’ and ‘The India Committee of the Netherlands,’ reveals that the number of children employed in cotton fields has almost halved to 34,300 in eight years when the figure was 65,700. But for Tamil Nadu, it is on the rise across the country.

Escalation of Child Labour Depresses Adult Wages (Journal of People's Studies):
There has been growing concern for child labour across the globe and several efforts are being made by the governments, donor agencies, UN agencies and civil society organisations to eliminate child labour. This concern has been translated into action in several parts of the world where certain successful models have evolved that helped in bringing down the incidence of child labour. In this context certain interesting questions come up regarding its impact on the labour practices. It is argued that the labour of children, who were earlier available in large numbers in the labour market, depresses the wages and worsens the labour conditions of adults. Withdrawing children from the labour market would possibly cause rise in the wages for adults. The International Labour organisation (ILO) has developed labour standards and the broader concept of decent work (also including employment creation, social security and social dialogue) and recognised child labour as one of the important impediments to achieve the same. Any successful efforts in the direction of eliminating child labour should therefore also significantly contribute to the achievement of decent work for adults.
The reported large scale violations of child rights in cotton farm sector have caught the attention of many around the world. The specificity of hybrid cottonseed production is that the majority of workers in this sector are children, particularly girls. No other industry in India has such a high proportion of child labour in its workforce.

India’s forgotten cotton-picking children (New Internationalist)/
India’s forgotten cotton-picking children (Thrakika.gr)/
India’s Forgotten Cotton-picking Children (ViewsWeek - Aug 2, 2015)/
India’s forgotten cotton-picking children (The Fifth Column - Aug 2, 2015)/
India’s Forgotten Cotton-picking Children (South Asian Pulse - Aug 5, 2015)/
India’s forgotten cotton-picking children (Point Blank 7 - Aug 12, 2015):
Mari Marcel Thekaekara shines a spotlight on the underreported problem of child labour.
"I always associated cotton picking with songs from the American deep-south. It conjured up visions of poor people, mostly African Americans. We associated cotton picking with southern slavery in America. Never with India. Inexplicably, given I have clear memories of detailed geography lessons about India’s agricultural patterns and cotton-growing states."

Cotton’s Forgotten Children: Child Labour and Below Minimum Wages in Hybrid Cottonseed Production in India (SHRAM.org):
Data for 2014-15 shows that children under 14 years still account for nearly 25% of the total workforce in cottonseed farms in India. In 2014-15, a total of around 200,000 children below 14 years were employed in cottonseed farms in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan states. Gujarat, which has the largest cottonseed production area in the country accounts for nearly 55% of the total children employed in this sector (110,000).

‘Cotton’s Forgotten Children’ claims half a million children work at cottonseed fields (Apparel Resources):
Here’s again a report on child labour in Indian textile industry. Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu, Director Glocal Research, Hyderabad has come up with Cotton’s Forgotten Children report. The report published by The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) criticizes the Indian State Governments, especially Gujarat and Rajasthan, for ‘not paying serious attention to tackle the issue’ and ‘being in the denying mood’. The 47-page report claims around half a million children are working in the seed fields and about 200,000 of them are below 14 years of age. The report also contains 11 recommendations for both companies, the National Seed Association of India and the (State) Governments to tackle child labour, below official minimum or living wages and other labour rights violations.

Bambini lavoratori in India (CIAI.it):
Quasi mezzo milione di minori indiani sono impiegati nella produzione del cotone in diversi stati del Paese e circa 200.000 di loro sono al di sotto di 14 anni. Questo è uno dei risultati del nuovo studio Cotton’s Forgotten Children condotto da uno dei massimi esperti in India, Davuluri Venkateswarlu.

Gujarat, the largest cottonseed production area in India, accounts for nearly 55% of the total children employed in the sector (CounterView):
A recent study, Cotton’s Forgotten Children, by Dr Davuluri Venkateswarlu, director, Glocal Research, a Hyderabad-based multi-disciplinary reseach and consultancy service, has found large-scale incidence of child labour in cotton producing fields of India. Based on field survey between July 2014 and January 2015, the study analyses primary data collected through field visits to 396 sample cottonseed farms in 72 villages that produce seed for both MNCs and major Indian seed companies. Out of 396 farms surveyed, 60 are in Andhra Pradesh, 56 are in Telangana, 100 in Gujarat and 60 each in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The study has been coordinated by the The India Committee of the Netherlands, an active member the Stop Child Labour campaign, the Clean Clothes Campaign, the International Dalit Solidarity Network and the Dutch MVO Platform.

Cotton report slams India’s child labour stats (EcoTextile.com):
Around a 60 per cent of cotton seed farm workers in India are under the age of 18 – a figure which is on the rise according to a new report published by the Stop Child Labour Coalition and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). The Cotton’s Forgotten Children report suggests more governmental reviews and policies are needed to tackle India’s ongoing child labour issues.

Child labour on controvertial MNC Monsanto Bt cotton farms just 0.18% of workforce, but 28% on other farms: Dutch report (CounterView):
A well-researched Dutch report, which has sharply criticized Gujarat and Rajasthan governments for failing to take any steps against child labour in Bt cotton farms, has surprisingly praised multinational corporations (MNCs), including the controversial Monsanto, for taking “exemplary” initiatives in fighting the evil. It has said, efforts by “Bayer, Monsanto, Du Pont and few local companies have had some positive impact in reducing the number of working children.”

Alleging rampant child labour in Gujarat, Rajasthan cotton fields, Dutch report praises "initiatives" by MNC Monsanto (CounterView):
A new report, Cotton’s Forgotten Children, released in The Hague, has expressed serious concern over the fact that the number of child workers, who haven't reached adolescence and working in cotton farms, has gone up by a whopping 30,000 since 2010 in Gujarat and Rajasthan. As for adolescent children, the report says, the numbers have gone up by another 70,000.

Report: Child Labor in India’s Cottonseed Industry on the Rise (Sourcing Journal):
Although the International Labour Organization (ILO) has said there are one-third fewer children worldwide working today than there were 15 years ago, the problem continues, and a new report released Thursday revealed that India is going against the global grain.

NGO says half a million Indian children work in cotton fields (SportsTextiles.com):
A Dutch non-government organisation, the India Committee of the Netherlands (LIW), has said in a new report that India’s cotton growing industry employs almost half a million children, that is young people up to the age of 18. It adds that around 200,000 of these children are under 14 years of age.

Indien: Zahl der Kinderarbeiter steigt (TextilWirtschaft.de):
Knapp eine halbe Million Kinder ist in Indien in der Produktion von Baumwollsamen beschäftigt. Rund 200.000 von ihnen sind unter 14-Jahre alt. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt die Studie Cotton’s Forgotten Children, die von der Nicht-Regierungs-Organisation India Committee of the Netherlands herausgegeben wurde. Die Zahl der Kinder, die auf den Baumwollsaatgutfeldern arbeiten, hat sich seit der letzten Studie aus dem Jahr 2010 um fast 100.000 erhöht.

Child Labor in India’s Cottonseed Industry Detailed (WWD):
India, which is continuing its rise to the top of global cotton production, has made some strides in reducing the use of child labor in its cottonseed industry, but the problem remains widespread, according to a new report released Thursday.
Some 200,000 children under the age of 14 (India’s legal minimum age threshold) toiled in the cottonseed industry in India in 2014 through the present day, according to the report dubbed Cotton’s Forgotten Children, released by the India Committee of the Netherlands, a non-governmental organization, and the Stop Child Labour Coalition, a collation of NGOs and trade unions.

India has three times more child labourers than what is reported in Census: Childline India (Business Today):
Nishit Kumar, Head, Strategic Initiatives at Childline India Foundation talks to Sarika Malhotra of Business Today about tackling and defining child labour.

Diluting India's child labour law will trap families in cycle of poverty (The Guardian):
The Indian government is making severe cuts to budgets that address discrimination and the welfare of the country’s most marginalised people. In a deeply flawed strategy, they are relaxing legislation on child labour as a means to alleviate poverty.

One of every ten workers in Raichur’s granite mines is a child (scroll.in):
Granite mines in Karnataka still employ a large number of children, many under the age of 14, to complete stone processing. A report titled Rock Bottom by the Netherlands-based non-government organisations India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour, found that minors accounted for almost 10% of the total workforce in six quarries in state’s Raichur district.

Girl workers physically, sexually exploited, reveals survey (The Hindu):
A study on the health status of adolescent girls working in the textile mills under the controversial ‘Sumangali Scheme’ or ‘Thirumagal Thirumana Thittam’ has revealed that most of them working in hostile working conditions are being physically and sexually exploited.

Study on the Health Status of Adolescent Girls working in Textile and Spinning Mills: Almost all girls have big physical and mental health problems (Vaan Muhil):
A study on the health status of adolescent girls working in the textile and spinning mills was conducted by the organization Vaan Muhil between October 2015 and February 2015.
In total 193 girls of girls from Tirunelveli District working in the mils or returnees of the Sumangali Scheme were selected for the study through group discussions, case studies and individual in-depth interviews.

How many of the paving slabs for sale in Britain were cut by tiny hands? (Ethical Consumer):
Indian sandstone looks very similar to York stone, the traditional yellow building stone of the North of England. Over the last few decades many of our quarries have been coughing up their last pieces of stone, and Indian paving slabs have poured into the market as a cheap alternative.
But as the market has grown, so have concerns about the stone’s origins. Working conditions in the stone quarries of Rajasthan were first brought to Western attention in 2005 by a Dutch campaigning organisation called India Committee of the Netherlands, who published two shocking reports. In particular, they reported on a million children who are working in India’s stone quarries, making up about a fifth of all workers, some of them as young as six.

Child labour in the fashion supply chain - where, why and what can business do? (The Guardian):
Some 170 million children were in child labour in 2012, according to the International Labour Organisation, touching areas of our lives from fashion to food. To achieve true sustainability, businesses must consider their impacts on children, both directly and indirectly. [....] A recent report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) revealed that recruiters in southern India convince parents in impoverished rural areas to send their daughters to spinning mills with promises of a well-paid job, comfortable accommodation, three nutritious meals a day and opportunities for training and schooling, as well as a lump sum payment at the end of three years.

Textilindustrie: Kinderarbeit, Zwangsarbeit, Schuldknechtschaft und Menschenhandel (CleanKids.de):
Somo und ICN aus den Niederlanden, Partner von FEMNET/CCC decken auf: Zwangsarbeit, Schuldknechtschaft und Menschenhandel gibt es in fünf südindischen Spinnereien – Lieferanten von H&M, C&A und Primark.

Tea workers in India falling prey to human traffickers (The Sydney Morning Herald):
Poorly paid Indian tea workers and their destitute families are a major source for human traffickers who lure away mainly women and children with promises of a new life but who end up enslaved in factories and households, human rights organisations say.

Report on Child Slavery in Indian Textile Production Leads to Action (Mino-View Quarterly Magazine (Oct-Dec 2014), p19):
The new report Flawed Fabrics of the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and SOMO about child labour and 'modern slavery' in Indian spinning mills supplying to well-known garment brands clothing companies drew a lot of attention and led to various actions.

Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour: Report (ZeeNews)/
Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour: Report (Business Standard)/
Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour: Report (LifeAndTrendz.com)/
Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour: report (New Age Bangladesh - Nov 17, 2014)/
‘Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour’ (Hawker.com.bd - Nov 17, 2014)/
Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour (The Daily Observer - Nov 17, 2014)/
‘Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour’ (The Independent - Nov 17, 2014)/
Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour: report (LankaBD.com - Nov 17, 2014)/
Cotton mills in Tamil Nadu using forced child labour (Hosur Online - Nov 17, 2014):
Cotton manufacturers in Tamil Nadu are using forced child labour for long hours in dangerous conditions in their factories, a British daily alleged, a charge rubbished by a major textile body in the state as totally wrong.
An investigation by The Times claimed that children as young as 11 years are being paid as little as 6 pounds a month to produce the raw materials used to make garments for sale in Britain.

The cotton in your clothes may be made by girls aged 11, paid £6 a month (The Times):
Girls as young as 11 are being paid as little as £6 a month to produce the raw materials used to make garments for sale in Britain, an investigation by The Times has found.
Girls are sold to cotton spinning mills in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, locked in for weeks on end and forced to work relentless hours for pitiful wages in dangerous conditions.

H&M prohíbe insumos de empresa India que emplea trabajo infantil (MiaBogadoEnLinea.net):
La empresa sueca de ropa y accesorios, H&M, Hennes & Mauritz AB, anunció que incluía en la lista negra de empresas a una empresa de hiladoras al sur de la India porque emplea trabajo infantil y somete a "espantosas" condiciones de trabajos a sus empleados, mayoritariamente mujeres y niñas.
... El anuncio lo realizó H&M después de que se dieran a conocer los resultados de una auditoría realizada por el Center for Research for Multinational Corporations, SOMO, y por el Comité de la India de los Países Bajos.

H&M bans clothes from Indian spinning mill accused of child labour (Irish Independent):
Hennes & Mauritz AB will blacklist a spinning mill in India after a report claimed five manufacturers there use child labour and subjected workers, mostly women and girls, to "appalling" working conditions.

New Report: Modern day slavery in the Indian textile industry (Stop Child Labour):
Flawed Fabrics – a new report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) – shows that workers are still facing appalling labour conditions that amount to forced labour in the export-oriented Southern Indian textile industry. The women and girls who work in the spinning mills of Tamil Nadu, some as young as 15, are mostly recruited from marginalised Dalit communities in impoverished rural areas.

Caste discrimination, child labour and the Nobel peace prize winner (IDSN) :
Caste discrimination is a key factor behind child labour in India, home to the highest number of child labourers in the world. This is the message coming from experts on child labour. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kailash Satyarthi, also explains how witnessing caste discrimination as a child spurred on his engagement with fighting for the rights of the most marginalised.

Kailash Satyarthi, premio Nobel de la Paz 2014, pone en el punto de mira a las grandes empresas textiles (MarketingDirecto.com):
Kailash Satyarthi, nacido en Vidisha (India) en 1954 ha sido galardonado con el premio Nobel de la Paz 2014, por su incansable lucha contra para erradicar el trabajo y la explotación infantil. Satyarthi comparte este reconocimiento con Malala Yousafzai, la joven activista de origen paquistaní que lucha por el derecho a la educación de las niñas en todo el mundo.
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Hace un par de años el Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (ONG holandesa que analiza grandes empresas) y el India Committee of the Netherlands (ONG que lucha contra la explotación infantil) puso en el punto de mira a algunos de los gigantes mundiales del sector textil al relacionarlas con este tipo de prácticas laborales.
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India & Pakistan: millions of children at risk of trafficking following floods (Christian Today):
Millions of children are at risk of being trafficked following disastrous floods in South Asia, aid agencies have warned.

Delhi's missing kids: 18 children disappear every day from India's capital (FirstPost):
Eighteen children go missing in Delhi every day on average. Only a few are traced and restored to their parents. Shocked? Well, the national capital beats the national average easily when it comes to missing children. While 11 children disappear in the country every hour, two-third of them are traced. In Delhi, that's not quite the case.

For India's child police, work trumps school (Al Jazeera):
Children as young as five are being required to work for the police force in central India despite prohibitions on child labour in the country's constitution.

The Price of Less Child Labour and Higher Wages (ICN):
A new ICN publication - The Price of Less Child Labour and Higher Wages - shows that increasing the price that big seed companies in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh pay to farmers to grow cottonseed has resulted in much higher wages and less child labour in recent years.

India: Marginalized Children Denied Education - Use Monitoring, Redress Mechanisms to Keep Pupils in School (Human Rights Watch) :
School authorities in India persistently discriminate against children from marginalized communities, denying them their right to education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Four years after an ambitious education law went into effect in India guaranteeing free schooling to every child ages 6 to 14, almost every child is enrolled, yet nearly half are likely to drop out before completing their elementary education.

International garment brands not transparent about labour exploitation by their Indian suppliers: report (Down to Earth) :
An international organisation working for welfare of workers has drawn attention to the hazardous and exploitative working conditions of young girls working for the garment sector in Tamil Nadu.
An estimated 100,000 children and teenage girls are working in extremely oppressive conditions in the spinning mills and garment factories in Tamil Nadu, according to a report released by FNV Mondiaal (international department of Dutch trade union confederation) and the India Committee of the Netherlands. Most of the girls belong to Dalit communities and live in hostels, with little freedom of movement. They are underpaid, made to work for long hours in hazardous and unhealthy conditions. They are victims of "bonded labour" or "modern slavery", says the report.

Niños sin infancia - Trabajo esclavo en la India: tres empresas españolas están incluidas en la 'lista negra' (Beevoz):
Niñas y adolescentes trabajando sin contrato, privadas de libertad y en condiciones insalubres durante más de 72 horas a la semana por un salario de 0,88 euros al día, del que sólo podrán disponer cuando hayan transcurrido de tres a cinco años y que servirá para pagar su dote matrimonial. Ese es el sombrío escenario laboral de miles de jóvenes del estado de Tamil Nadu, al sur de la India, que son empleadas en condiciones que rozan la esclavitud por empresas textiles de aquel país que luego suministran sus productos a grandes firmas internacionales, entre ellas las españolas Inditex, El Corte Inglés y Cortefiel.

The task of protecting India's child cotton pickers (BBC):
Rada estimates she is 11 years old, but she can't be certain. She says she has been working in the Indian cotton fields for three years.
Rada, who comes from Andhra Pradesh in south-eastern India, goes to school at the moment but many other children do not. It is estimated more than 400,000 children under the age of 18 work on cotton farms across India.

The Lost Boys: We explore the plight of thousands of children working in the dangerous coal mines of India’s Meghalaya state (Al Jazeera):
Karma,16, has worked as a miner for over a year in India's northeastern state of Meghalaya, crawling deep inside a 'rat-hole' tunnel to dig coal for seven hours a day.
"Inside it is very unstable. The smell is awful," he said sitting on a pile of coal. "It is so dirty, and it is difficult to move. You breathe in the coal and the dust. People get sick like this. There is no water to drink and it is so muddy. It is not nice at all."

UNICEF: Dalit girls most excluded from primary education in India (IDSN):
A report just released by UNICEF and UNESCO on out of school children in India highlights that Dalit girls have the highest primary school exclusion rate in India. The report also finds that half of the Pre-School age Dalit children are not attending school.

Textile Industry: India's second largest employer, but what's really in for the workers? (International Journal of Research in Commerce, Economics & Management):
The seeds of Indian Textiles were sown early in Indus Valley Civilization and constituting one of the essential needs of human beings, demand for textile and clothing shall never come to a halt. Currently textiles industry is of critical importance to our national economy since it is the second largest after agriculture in terms of providing employment opportunities. Moreover, this sector absorbs a sizable number of people belonging to the weaker sections of the society in general and women in particular. Hence, advancement of this sector has direct bearing on our development and nation building. Notably, a substantial number of firms in this industry cater to the global retail giants. [....] Women workers who are majorly employed in this industry fall prey to sexual exploitation, economic discrimination in contrast to their male counterparts and absence of facilities of toilets and crèches. Studies bring out cases of child labour where children are treated like slaves. Overall, the working environment is stressful, over-tiring, unhealthy and hazardous.

Norwegian pension fund withdraws investment in Indian seed company because of child labour - Risk of child labour highlighted by research ICN (ICN):
The Norwegian Ministry of Finance has recently decided to withdraw its investment in the Indian company Zuari Agro Chemicals (‘Zuari’) because of the contribution of the company to the worst forms of child labour. This decision was taken based on a recommendation from the Council on Ethics of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG).

INFO-GRAPHICS: Over 29 Million People Enslaved, Says World’s First Global Slavery Index (We-Designs):
More than 29 million people across the globe live in conditions of modern-day slavery, according to the first index to quantify the scale of forced labor on a country-by-country basis.

47 young labourers rescued from spinning mill in Erode (The Hindu):
Forty-seven young labourers, including 24 from Chhattisgarh and 12 from Assam, most of them girls, were rescued from bondage in P.V. Spinning Mill at Vinnapalli village near Sathyamangalam in Erode district by a team of officials on Monday night. The remaining 11 workers are all girls belonging to various parts of Tamil Nadu.

Communities stop child labour (NETSHEILA):
A popular notion is that poverty makes child labour unavoidable. Child headed households need to get money from somewhere, for example. Or parents need someone to look after the little ones so they can pick more crop in peak earning seasons. The truth is that cheap child labour increases poverty increases. Poverty increases because enterprises pay less, and poverty increases because children are not educated. Education stops poverty.

Children help sustain India’s hybrid seed industry (Ek Sparsh):
Nearly 8 million hectares of land is under vegetable cultivation in India, and about 30% of this area is covered with hybrid varieties. The market for hybrid varieties is rapidly increasing. Hybrid seed production is a highly labour-intensive activity.
A recent study has revealed that the Hybrid Seed Production Industry in India, dominated by multinational companies employs children as labourers.

Kinderarbeit im indischen Saatgutanbau (Neue Rheinische Zeitung):
Vor zehn Jahren veröffentlichte die Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren (CBG) zusammen mit indischen Partnern eine Untersuchung zum Einsatz von Kinderarbeit im indischen Baumwollsaat-Anbau. Das Ergebnis war erschreckend: Tausende von Kindern, zum Teil nicht älter als sechs Jahre, schufteten für Zulieferer für den Konzern in Leverkusen, für MONSANTO und SYNGENTA.

INDE – Dalits et enfants produisent des graines de poivre et de tomates pour des compagnies indo-néerlandaises (Solidarité Dalits Belgique):
La société indienne Bejo Sheetal, partenaire de la firme hollandaise Bejo Seeds en joint venture, tolère le travail des enfants à large échelle parmi les paysans qui lui fournissent les graines de légumes. Par ailleurs, les paysans qui fournissent des graines à Nunhems India, part de Nunhems Netherlands, travaillent pratiquement sans enfants de moins de 14 ans.
Telles sont les conclusions majeures d’une étude publiée sous le titre A Tale of Two Companies – The difference between action and inaction in combating child labour (Histoire de deux compagnies – la différence entre l’action et l’absence d’action dans le combat contre le travail d’enfants) publiée par le Comité Inde aux Pays Bas.

Young Women Exploitation in Tirupur Textile & Garment Industries with reference to Sumangali Scheme (International Journal of Engineering and Management Research):
After agriculture, the Textile and Clothing (T&C) Industry is the second largest sector in the Indian economy in terms of output, foreign exchange earnings and providing employment and employment-generating Industry in India. The latest estimates reveals that the direct employment of over 35 million people are engaged with Textile and Garment Industries across India, Tirupur and nearby Coimbatore have long been the centre of a textile and garment industry supplying a national market. Now, Tirupur is declared as a corporation from being just a municipality town, because of its demographic and geographical growth. The Textile Industry in Tamil Nadu particularly Tirupur has been reported to be exploiting young women workers in the spinning and textile units under what is called the “Sumangali Scheme.”

Child Labour Free Zones in India and Africa (ICN):
A Child Labour Free Zone is a (geographical) area where all working children are being withdrawn from child labour and are (re)integrated into formal, full-time quality schools. If children are above the legal working age they shall get the chance to continue their education and/or receive vocational education/training or enter decent youth employment.

Child labour in the Indian textile industry: Rescue of Sumangali Girls (ICN):
Poverty stuck families where agriculture no longer wins them bread, send their daughters to jobs in textile mills under Sumangali scheme, also as a way for getting the girls married because they can earn their dowry in the factories. At least that is one part of the story.
The Indian organization SAVE writes: "Once the girls land into the industry, the core reality hits hard on them. The worst form of exploitation by the management make the workers exhausted and most of the bitter experiences remain unsaid inside the hearts of many girls...."

Tailored for Tyranny (FountainInk.in):
Tirupur is India’s knitwear district, a small town in Tamil Nadu that exports garments worth thousands of crores every year. But success is built on a systematic exploitation of workers who are treated as bonded labour, not paid minimum wages and made to work inhuman hours to produce the brands that everyone wears.

Anti-Trafficking seminar and photography exhibition Wednesday 23rd January 2013 (World Youth Alliance):
This Wednesday 23rd January, World Youth Alliance was proud to hold, in collaboration with CARE for Europe and hosted by Sir Graham Watson, MEP, a seminar and photography exhibition on Anti-Trafficking at the European Parliament. Nearly sixty individuals partook in the afternoon’s seminar and roughly a hundred were present for the inauguration of the exhibition. The event was appreciated by many as an opportunity to discuss the issue of human trafficking: a human rights abuse directly linked to our consumer habits, yet often hidden from the public eye or considered too taboo for discussion.
.... Next to intervene was Gerard Oonk, India Committee of the Netherlands who distinguished between four key players in human trafficking: the consumers, the businesses, the governments of the exploited countries, and the governments of the exploiting countries....

The Global Value: Value for Whom? The Soccer Ball Industry in China and Pakistan (Critical Asian Studies):
The global value chain concept has become one of the most influential frameworks used in the study of globalization. The paradigm, however, is deficient in explicating the exploitative nature of global value chain governance. Based on a study of soccer ball production in China and Pakistan, this article analyzes global production from three perspectives: the role of the state in shaping the host countries’ mode of production and legal framework, the issue of how surplus value is created and distributed, and the use of child labor or prison labor to remain competitive in the chain. The article shows, in the case of Pakistan, how a country using a lower-labor-costs strategy to retain a place in a global value chain allows its workers to be exploited and pauperizes its people.

Women growing seeds for companies in India discriminated and underpaid (ASEED.net):
On December 12 2012 the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) are publishing the report Wages of Inequality – Wage Discrimination and Underpayment in Hybrid Seed Production in India.
Other key messages of the new report: (1) Agricultural wages have increased but they are still below minimum wages (2) Multinationals not better than Indian companies regarding wages (3) Dalits often make longer working days (4) Child labour depresses the wages.

War Profiteer of the Month: Monsanto (War Resisters' International):
Founded in 1901 to make artificial sweeteners, Monsanto has had a long history of controversial products, using litigation and sophisticated lobbying and public relations strategies to battle critics. Many of its products have produced harmful side-effects, including chemicals such as PCBs and dioxin (a by-product of chlorinated herbicides, including Agent Orange), rBGH (bovine growth hormone) and certain herbicides and genetically modified seeds. The company's biggest critics include farmers, scientists, and food safety advocates.
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According to a study conducted by the India Committee of the Netherlands, a company subsidiary employed children to make cotton seeds, thereby exposing them to Endosulfan and other pesticides, while paying less than Rs.20 (50 U.S. cents) per day.

Once abused, 700 children set to become agents of change (The Times of India):
Life was never promising for 13-year-old Suraj, a tribal, till he was rescued from a Bt cotton field in Banaskantha in Gujarat a year ago. Suraj had migrated to Gujarat in the winter of 2010 to support his family, unaware that he along with many other children were sold by a middleman for five years.

Letter to all footwear companies addressed by Stop Child Labour Campaign (Stop Child Labour)

Sumangali Scheme (SAVE/YouTube):
Short film (26 min.) about bonded (child) labour in the South Indian garment industry.

As pressure builds up, TN mills rectify conditions: Netherlands' Campaigners Expose Sumangali Scheme in SA8000 Certified Mills (Textile Excellence):
In yet another international report, the 'exploitive', 'abusive' and 'inhuman' labor practices prevalent in the Indian textile industry has been highlighted. But SOMO and ICN report has also accentuated, how, right under governments' nose, an institutionalized dowry 'scheme' ran.

India moves to ban all forms of Child Labour (Bachpan Bachao Andolan):
In a significant move to curb the rampant spread of child labour across the country, the Government of India is set to ban the all forms of child labour under the age of 14 years, making the employment of children below 14 years a criminal offense. The Union cabinet of India approved the Child & Adolescent Labour (Prohibition) Act today putting a blanket ban on employing anybody below 18 years in hazardous occupation. Such hazardous occupations have also been re-classified in line with the increase in the minimum age of child labour from 14 to 18 years.

‘Maid in India’ - Shocking Findings (GroundReport.com):
In Tamil Nadu textile and garment products for big brands and retailers are being made by girls and young women under exploitative working conditions, says a report, Maid in India, published by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN).

Report cites ‘major labour abuses’ in textile sector (The Hindu):
Though there are improvements in employment and labour conditions on the work floor and in workers’ hostels in textile mills and garment factories in the State, “major labour abuses continue to occur,” according to the latest report by non-government watchdogs.

Eliminating child labour from the supply chain (The Guardian):
To coincide with this year's World Day Against Child Labour, Carmel Giblin explores the root causes of child labour and how brands and their suppliers can work together eliminate it.

America’s Misconception and Ignorant Proliferation of Global, Child Labor (The Nation Builders):
As defined by the International Labour Organization, child labor is “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity and that is harmful to physical and mental development.” In essence, it is a practice that takes from children their childhood present and by proxy, their adult futures. Child Labor is a global plague indicative of a society which is decaying within the fog of moral and ethical loss, leaving children across the world to be forced into slave labor because their families are stricken with poverty and it is he only way for the whole to survive. The destiny these children would otherwise have in a prosperous existence like that which many of us Americans enjoy is all but a dream to them: They live an existence which very few here could ever imagine.

España busca en India el nuevo El Dorado tras el fiasco de Repsol (El Confidencial):
Gustavo de Arístegui anda enfrascado en plena mudanza. Después de tres legislaturas en el Congreso de los Diputados, en menos de dos semanas se marcha definitivamente a Nueva Delhi como nuevo embajador del Reino de España.
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Algunas empresas españolas, sin embargo, figuran todavía en la lista negra de la explotación infantil en las fábricas textiles, según ha denunciado el último informe Captured by cotton (Atrapadas en el algodón) elaborado por el prestigioso Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations -una organización independiente holandesa sin ánimo de lucro que escruta a las grandes multinacionales- y el India Committee of the Netherlands -una ONG del mismo país impulsora de la campaña Clean Clothes (Ropas Limpias) contra la explotación vinculada al comercio textil.

India’s Dalit women and the real cost of fast fashion (Women's Views On News):
The High Street frenzy that follows when the Duchess of Cambridge is snapped wearing a new dress can lead to 24-hour shifts for women working in some of India’s garment factories.
That’s one of the findings of a new report Maid in India that reveals the impact that unexpected orders and the frequency at which high street stores change their collections is having on some of India’s most disadvantaged women.

Maid in India - Young Dalit women continue to suffer exploitative conditions in India's garment industry (Eldis.org):
In Tamil Nadu young women workers continue to suffer exploitative working conditions while making garments for Western brands. Thousands of girls work under recruitment and employment schemes that amount to bonded labour. In this report the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) present their findings on the labour conditions in the South Indian garment and textile industry.

Dalit women exploited in garment supply chain (Just-Style.com):
Clothing supplied to leading European and US brands by the Indian garment industry is being produced by young Dalit (or Untouchables, as they were formerly labelled) women, a new report claims.

Saga of 'Maid in India' (The Hindu):
Thousands of young Dalit girls, between the ages of 14 to 25 employed in the garment and textile industry in Tamil Nadu continue to work under exploitative conditions akin to bonded labour, concludes a report Maid in India.

BSCI responds to Sumangali report Maid in India (BSCI):
On 25 April a joint report entitled Maid in India was released by Dutch organisations, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). Maid in India follows up on SOMO and ICN’s initial research Captured by Cotton, released in May 2011 which highlighted the poor conditions imposed on Dalit girls in the garment industry in India. In the conclusions of the report, actions from producers and companies were requested along with recommended actions for companies. Maid in India follows up on this report and evaluates to what degree these actions have been implemented.

Tres grandes empresas españolas siguen en la 'lista negra' de trabajo esclavo (LacrimaSeca/ElConfidencial.com):
Salarios miserables, jornadas sin fin, niñas explotadas, sindicatos proscritos, ambiente insalubre... El sombrío escenario laboral que engulle cotidianamente a miles de mujeres jóvenes del empobrecido estado indio de Tamil Nadu, empleadas en condiciones que rozan la esclavitud en los talleres que suministran productos textiles a las primeras marcas mundiales, parece condenado a perpetuarse en el tiempo. Y mientras las autoridades del gigante asiático toleran los abusos, 77 grandes empresas occidentales, entre ellas El Corte Inglés, Inditex -propietaria de firmas como Zara y Pull&Bear- y Cortefiel siguen obteniendo jugosos beneficios.

Reacción de la moda a denuncias en India “es insuficiente” (FashionUnited.es):
A pesar de las promesas de cambio e iniciativas con buenas intenciones de algunas empresas europeas y americanas de vestimenta, los trabajadores textiles en la región de Tamil Nadu, al sur de India siguen siendo explotados.
Así se señala en el informe Maid in India dado a conocer ayer por el Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations -una organizaciín independiente holandesa sin ánimo de lucro que escruta a las grandes multinacionales- y el India Committee of the Netherlands -una ONG del mismo país impulsora de la campaña Clean Clothes (Ropas Limpias) contra la explotación vinculada al comercio textil.

Maid in India (Saubere-Kleidung.de):
Die holländischen NGOs The Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) und The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) haben eine Folgestudie unter dem Titel Maid in India veröffentlicht, die die Arbeitssituation der Textilangestellten in den Indien in den Blick nimmt. Die vorangegangene Studie Captured by Cotton aus dem Jahre 2011 verdeutlichte die katastrophale Arbeitsrechts- und Lebenssituation der TextilarbeiterInnen in der Region Tamil Nadu (Distrikt im Süden Indiens). Auf der Grundlage dieser Ergebnisse kündigten einige Unternehmen, die in den Fabriken dort produzieren oder sich von dort mit Rohmaterial beliefern lassen, an, dass sie Schritte zu Verbesserungen einleiten wollen.

Trotz der Versprechen von Seiten der Industrie leiden junge Dalit-Frauen weiterhin unter ausbeuterischen Bedingungen in Indiens Bekleidungsindustrie (FemNet-ev.de):
Die holländischen Organisationen the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) und The India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) haben eine Folgestudie unter dem Titel Maid in India veröffentlicht, die die Arbeitssituation der Textilangestellten in den Indien in den Blick nimmt. Die Lebens- und Arbeitssituation junger, oft unter 18-jährigen Dalit-Frauen, den sogenannten "Unberührbaren", sowie das Sumangali-Schema werden dabei aufführlich dargestellt und die bisherigen Bemühungen der europäischen und UA-amerikanischen Bekleidungshersteller kritisiert.

Video: Zwangsarbeit in Indien (EvB.ch):
"We request you to bring us the lovely girls you know and make their lives prosperous as a lighthouse". Mit diesen Worten werben indische Fabriken junge Mädchen als Angestellte für ihr sog. "Sumangali-Programm“. Sie bieten ihnen damit vermeintlich die Chance, Geld für eine (offiziell verbotene) Mitgift zu verdienen.

Trabajo esclavo en la India: tres empresas españolas están incluidas en la 'lista negra' (ElConfidencial.com):
Niñas y adolescentes trabajando sin contrato, privadas de libertad y en condiciones insalubres durante más de 72 horas a la semana por un salario de 0,88 euros al día, del que sólo podrán disponer cuando hayan transcurrido de tres a cinco años y que servirá para pagar su dote matrimonial. Ese es el sombrío escenario laboral de miles de jóvenes del estado de Tamil Nadu, al sur de la India, que son empleadas en condiciones que rozan la esclavitud por empresas textiles de aquel país que luego suministran sus productos a grandes firmas internacionales, entre ellas las españolas Inditex, El Corte Inglés y Cortefiel.

Child rights body wants ban on minor workers in Bt cotton fields (Indian Express):
Aiming eradication of child labour practice in Bt Cotton fields, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written to the Central Labour Ministry to include the Bt Cotton fields under the prohibited list of hazardous areas where child labourers cannot be employed.

NCPCR irked over dismal state of child labourers in BT cotton farms in Gujarat (Press Information Bureau, Gov. of India):
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) under the women and Child Development Ministry has found child labourers to be rampant in the BT cotton fields of Shihori and Khimana of Banaskantha district here during a visit of the Central body on October 7-10, 2011.

NCPCR raid 'yields' 12 child labourers on cotton farms (DailyBhaskar.com):
At an age when they are supposed to be studying in schools, children are found working in cotton farms as labourers. Child labour, which is a burning issue in most states of the country, also has Gujarat on the list of state 'killers', who are terminating the childhood of children.

Seeds of Despair (Countercurrents.org):
The escalating corporatization of the agricultural sector, where the bulk of the Indian workforce continues to be concentrated, has had critical consequences for struggles for the rights of landless labourers and small farmers. Land reforms, critical to the empowerment of these two sections of rural society, seem now to be definitely off the government’s agenda. The growing control of massive corporate houses, including multinational corporations (MNCs), over the agricultural sector has left agricultural labourers and small farmers increasingly at the mercy of market forces, leading, as numerous reports have highlighted, to their increasing pauperization.

Eyewitness Account: Child Labor in North India's Hand-Woven Carpet Sector (GoodWeave):
The carpet belt of North India stretches across the state of Uttar Pradesh from the town of Allahabad, east to Bhadohi, ending in the rural reaches beyond Varanasi. The author has visited this area several times across the last decade, and despite recent pronouncements by the government of India that child labor no longer exists in the country's hand-woven carpet sector, there are still innumerable shacks and village huts in this area in which children as young as 10 years of age are coerced to work 16 or more hours a day weaving carpets for export to Europe and North America.

Captured by Cotton (InfoChange India):
Excerpts from a report published by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporation (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). The report features case studies of four large manufacturers: Eastman Global Clothing Exports, KPR Mill, Bannari Amman, and SSM India. These enterprises produce for Bestseller (eg Only, Jack &Jones), C&A, GAP, Diesel, Inditex (eg Zara), Marks & Spencer, Primark, Tommy Hilfiger, and many other European and US garment companies. A number of companies have undertaken steps towards the elimination of the Sumangali Scheme, but abusive labour practices remain widespread.

Dalit girls exploited in supply chain of high street retailers (Dalit Freedom Network):
A recently published report by two Dutch based organisations has highlighted the exploitation of Dalit girls in the supply chains of major UK high street retailers. The report focuses on the Sumangali Scheme in Tamil Nadu state, which is claimed to be akin to bonded labour, a form of modern slavery still widely practised in India even though it has been outlawed.

Slavery or Sumangali? Exploitation of Dalit Girls Exposed (Im4Change):
Women's stepping out of their homes to work is often seen as a symbol of empowerment. But what if girls and young women are first lured to work in factories on the false promise of decent wage, comfortable accommodation and payment of a lump sum amount at the end of 3 years contract, and then made to toil for pittance and their labour rights are violated?

Captured by Cotton (HAQ):
In India, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, girls and young women are recruited and employed on a large scale to work in the garment industry.

Worst Forms of Child Labor Occur in India's Garment Industry, Says Report (Ecouterre):
It is an appalling fact that child labor is still an issue in various countries across the world. Children as young as 10 are subjected to unacceptable work conditions to produce garments for the European and U.S. markets, according to a new report by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), a nonprofit based in the Netherlands. A collaboration with the India Committee of the Netherlands, “Captured by Cotton” shines the spotlight on the exploitative Sumangali scheme, a form of bonded labor in India's garment industry, particularly in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Captured by Cotton (Media Voices For Children):
This report, jointly produced by SOMO (Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) and ICN (India Committee of the Netherlands) highlights several labour rights violations faced by girls and young women employed under the Sumangali Scheme in the Tamil Nadu garment industry.

Captured by Cotton - A Story of Dalit Girls of Tamil Nadu (GroundReport.com/Ummid.com/Aid Netherlands/IndianMuslimObserver.com):
Jack & Jones, C&A, GAP, Diesel, Marks & Spencer, Primark, Tommy Hilfiger, well these names rings the tune of global brands manufacturing high class cotton merchandise.
Little is known fact about such high profile garment manufactures chain is about the nature of their sourcing activity. These big garment brands have their products made under exploitative and unhealthy conditions by girls in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The girls, mostly younger than 18 and from a Dalit ('outcaste') background are employed under the 'Sumangali Scheme.'

Worst forms of child labour in garment sector, SOMO-ICN report (Fibre2Fashion):
Big garment brands and retailers have their products made under exploitative and unhealthy conditions by girls in Tamil Nadu, South India. The girls, mostly younger than 18 and from a Dalit ('outcaste') background are employed under the Sumangali Scheme.

The Sumangali Girls?, of What? Rampant abuse of young Dalit girls to produce Export Garments? (Zimbio):
Big garment brands and retailers have their products made under exploitative and unhealthy conditions by girls in Tamil Nadu, South India. The girls, mostly younger than 18 and from a Dalit (´outcaste´) background are employed under the Sumangali Scheme. In its worst form, this employment scheme stands for bonded labour, as described in Captured by Cotton, a report published today by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporation (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN).

Captured by Cotton: Exploited Dalit girls produce garments in India for European and US markets (International Labor Rights Forum/PratigyaIndia.org):
This report highlights several labour rights violations faced by girls and young women employed under the Sumangali Scheme in the Tamil Nadu garment industry.

Exploited Dalit Girls Produce Garments in India for European and US Markets - Companies Have Taken Steps, But Exploitation Remains Widespread (PR Newswire/DesignLookOut.com/National Academy for Dalit (NAD)/Rights for People/Bahujan News/EthicalQuote.com):
Big garment brands and retailers have their products made under exploitative and unhealthy conditions by girls in Tamil Nadu, South India. The girls, mostly younger than 18 and from a Dalit ('outcaste') background are employed under the Sumangali Scheme. In its worst form, this employment scheme stands for bonded labour, as described in 'Captured by Cotton', a report published today by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporation (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). The report features case studies of four large manufacturers. These enterprises produce for Bestseller (e.g. Only, Jack & Jones), C&A, GAP, Diesel, Inditex (e.g. Zara), Marks & Spencer, Primark, Tommy Hilfiger, and many other European and US garment companies. A number of companies have undertaken steps towards the elimination of the Sumangali Scheme, but abusive labour practices remain widespread.

Dalit girls working under slave like conditions in India's garment industry (IDSN):
Multinational clothing brands are sourcing from cotton spinning mills in Tamil Nadu that exploit teenage girls, subjecting them to what the ILO terms the ‘worst forms of child labour’.

Bonded and child labour in Afghan brick kilns, also for NATO projects :
After decades of violence, Afghanistan has few banks, and the people who labour at the kilns would almost surely be too poor to qualify for loans. Instead, they borrow from their employers, who generally pay them pennies an hour for their grueling labour — barely enough to survive and too little to pay off debts that only grow with each passing year. For a vast majority of workers, there is no escape — for them or for their children, who are bound by their parents’ contracts. Their best hope is that the boss will sell their contract to another kiln, where they might be paid more. No matter what, the loan will follow them. In some cases, children are held as their parents’ collateral.

Seed producing units asked not to employ children (The Times of India):
The two-day National Seed Association of India Conference, which began in the city on February 22, had child rights protection forums and civil society organisations demanding freedom for over 5 lakh children working in hybrid seed production.

Combining work and school: The dynamics of girls’ involvement in agricultural work in Andhra Pradesh, India (Children & Society):
Child labour in India has long been the focus of research, policy concern and intervention. This paper presents an analysis of children's involvement in agricultural work, particularly cottonseed production, drawing on evidence gathered for Young Lives in 2007 and 2008. In parts of rural Andhra Pradesh, children have been working in cotton fields for two or three months of the year. Evidence showed marked gender and age differentiation. In the early stages of cotton production in the mid-1990s, there was reportedly a cultural as well as an economic basis for children's work in cottonseed pollination, when it was believed that pre-pubescent girls were preferred, as they were considered 'pure'. This has shifted, and children appear to work in cotton pollination for economic reasons, as well as practical ideas that they are better suited to the work because of their physical height and dexterity. The paper focuses on accounts from two girls involved in such work. They highlighted the importance of work in their everyday lives and its consequences for their schooling. Their situation had changed markedly when the study teams visited the site one year later, and the paper explores some of the reasons for the changes.

Child labour props up country's seed industry (Mail Today (India)):
The Indian seed industry, dominated by multinational companies, is a major employer of child labour, surveys have revealed. More than half a million children in India are growing cotton and vegetable seeds under hazardous conditions, including long working hours and exposure to pesticides.

NGO-rapporter om børnearbejde i Indien tegner et positivt billede (U-Landsnyt.dk):
En ny pressemeddelelse fra den hollandsk baserede NGO India Committee of the Netherlands viser, at der i Indien er over en halv million børn under 18 år, som dyrker bomulds- og grøntsagsfrø under kummerlige forhold. Men kurven er begyndt at vende.
...
Pressemeddelelsen er baseret på to feltarbejdsrapporter fra henholdsvis India Committee of the Netherlands, International Labor Rights Forum og kampagnen Stop Child Labour - School is the best place to work.

New study points to child labour at seed farms, MNCs under cloud (Financial Express):
More than half a million children in India below 18 years are growing cotton seeds and vegetable seeds under hazardous conditions, says a joint study by the India Committee of the Netherlands, the International Labour Rights Forum and Stop Child Labour — School is the best place to work. According to the study, around 2.30 lakh among these children are below 14 years and are putting in long working hours and are exposed to pesticides in these farms.

Indian kids labour in fields in hazardous condition: Survey (Sify.com):
More than half-a-million children below 18 years of age have been working under hazardous condition in cotton and vegetable fields in five western and southern Indian states, a report said Friday.

Kinderfreie Saatgutproduktion in Indien? (MultiWatch.ch):
Ein neuer Bericht von International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF), India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) und Stop Child Labour - School is the Best Place to Work untersucht die Situation von Kinderarbeit in der Saatgutproduktion in Indien. Der Bericht Growing Up in the Danger Fields, Child and Adult Labour in Vegetable Seed Production in India zeigt auf, dass bei einigen Saatgutunternehmen gewisse Fortschritte gemacht wurden. So wurden bei Syngenta deutlich weniger Kinder auf den Saatgutfeldern eingesetzt, als noch vor 4 Jahren. Syngenta begann ihre Interventionen gegen Kinderarbeit zusammen mit der Fair Labour Association.

Mining and its effects on children, women, Adivasi and Dalits (LIW):
Reports recently released by Indian NGOs reveal the desperate situation for children and adults living and working in mining areas in India. Among them Dalits, Adivasi and women are the main victims. The report India's Childhood in the "Pits" published by HAQ, SAMATA and mines, minerals and People (mmP) shows that districts that are entirely dependent on mining have a lower literacy rate than the national average. The mortality rate of children under five years of age is higher. Child labour is rampant. GRAVIS has released the report Women Miners in Rajasthan, India. The report explores the harsh everyday life and work for female quarry workers in Rajasthan.

Roadmap for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016 (The Hague Global Child Labour Conference).

Education and Child Labour - Paper for The Hague Global Child Labour Conference 2010 (Shantha Sinha).

‘Against All Odds’ (MV Foundation/YouTube):
The MV Foundation helps Indian parents to get their children from work into school.

We can’t turn a blind eye: Child labour (Building.co.uk):
Children as young as six are working 12-hour days in some of India’s sandstone quarries. Yet many UK stone importers just don’t want to know about it. Sophie Griffiths reports on a scandal that is getting harder to ignore.
Five years ago, a director of products supplier Marshalls happened on a report produced by the India Committee of the Netherlands, an organisation that aims to raise Western awareness of deprived groups in the Subcontinent. It listed details of how sandstone was quarried, in particular the widespread use of child labour. As part of a company that annually imports a large quantity of stone from India, Chris Harrop was startled. He set out to Rajasthan in north-west India, to investigate the conditions of workers in the quarries his company sourced its stone from. What he saw left him shaken.

Seven reasons why the world should: Eradicate all child labour, get every child into school (Stop Child Labour):
Background note to the petition for the Global Child Labour Conference 10-11 May 2010.

Child labour in Gujarat's cottonseed farms (India Together):
Labour contractors and large landowners continue to employ children, often exposing them to vulnerable situations. Extreme poverty in Rajasthan's tribal districts fuels the practice.

Girl Child Bonded Labour in Cottonseed Fields - A study of two villages in Rangareddy District of Andhra Pradesh (MV Foundation):
This study shows new forms of exploitation of girl children in cottonseed farms. These girl children working in cottonseed fields are subjected to the pressures of the market economy which forces them to join the labour force as cheap labour (in place of adults). All kinds of myths are circulated to ensure that they are made available. It is shocking that these new forms of exploitation are being accepted unquestionably by everyone. We all know that it is uncivilised to pledge a girl child- which has not been done before in this area. Yet, we seem to be accepting it as if it has always been in existence-this must be exposed and condemned and girls need to be liberated.

Using fashion to fight child labour (Radio Netherlands Worldwide):
Dutch fashion houses and business leaders have come together to launch a shop that only stocks clothes manufactured without the use of child labour in developing countries. The opening coincided on Friday with the 20th anniversary of the international convention on the rights of the child.

Life's cheap in the Bt cotton fields of Gujarat (The Times of India):
It was on the night of August 17 that Punjilal Ahuri received the body of his 16-year-old daughter, Haju Ben. She had apparently died of snake bite while working in the Bt cotton fields of Gujarat.

Statement by President Barack Obama on World Day Against Child Labor (GovNews):
Even in this modern era, children around the world are forced to work in deplorable and often dangerous conditions at a time in their lives when they should be in classrooms and playgrounds. Global child labor perpetuates a cycle of poverty that prevents families and nations from reaching their full potential.

Children Combining Work and Education in Cottonseed Production in Andhra Pradesh: Implications for Discourses of Children's Rights in India (Young Lives):
Child labour in India has long been the focus of research, policy concern and intervention. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of children's work in cottonseed production in Andhra Pradesh, drawing on evidence from two case studies from the qualitative component of Young Lives. In parts of rural Andhra Pradesh, children work in the cotton fields for two to three months of the school year. Children highlighted the importance of this work in their everyday lives and its consequences for their schooling. Evidence shows marked gender and age differentiation. In the early stages of cotton production, there was reported to be a cultural as well as an economic basis for children's work in cottonseed pollination, when it was believed that pre-pubescent girls were preferred for this kind of work, as they were considered to be 'pure'. However, this has shifted somewhat, and children appear to work in cotton pollination for economic reasons, as well as practical ideas that they are better-suited to this type of work because of their physical height and dexterity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the research for discourses related to children’s rights in India.

Managing ethical production in India (Aggregates Business Europe):
Demand for decorative paving in Europe means significant quantities are now sourced from India but production is not always managed ethically. Lisa Russell reports on how Marshalls has taken a stance to bring about change.

Call to Link Trade With Children's Rights (IPS Inter Press Service):
The European Union has been urged to make its trading relationships with foreign countries conditional on reducing and eventually eradicating child labour.

Combating Child Labour: Worldwide Organisations Come Together to Launch 18 Point Action Plan (ApparelResources.com):
Child labour has increasingly become a global concern with nearly 246 mn children engaged in various kinds of work around the world. Of these, as many as 126 mn are estimated to be labouring under dangerous conditions. Incidentally, Asia and Africa together account for over 90% of the total child employment. In India, as per the 2001 census, there are nearly 1.26 cr children labouring in the 5-14 age group of which 12.6 lakh are said to be working in hazardous conditions. And, although the textile and garment industry is not categorised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as a hazardous industry, there are operations that can be perilous such as flat knitting operations, ironing work at high temperatures and handling sharp equipment and machinery among other things.

Sit-in (dharna Indian organizations for right on education (Campaign Against Child Labour):
Fundamental right to quality and equitable education upto tenth standard through common school system was the long cherished goal of the Indian children. In spite of constitutional amendment, commission’s reports, policies and programs this most basic right of the children could not be ensured fully even after the 60 years of our independence.....

The Warped Weft: 1.3 lakh children in AP lose their childhood to its cotton fields and factories (Outlook):
It's 8 am on Etukuru Road, a hub of about 120 cotton-ginning factories in Guntur city. Six girls, aged between eight and 13, hurry along, making their way past mounds of raw cotton into a couple of noisy ginning mills. Once inside, they waste no time picking up some baskets and loading them with cotton. They then walk to the machines and toss their bales in where the seeds are separated.
...
According to a recent study titled Child Bondage Continues in India's Cotton Supply Chain — published on behalf of the India Committee of The Netherlands, the International Labor Rights Forum of the US, oecd Watch, German Agro-Action and One World Net nrw (Germany) — about 1,28,000 children work in the hybrid cottonseed fields of AP.

Child labour: That garden stone, handmade carpet or embroidered T shirt you just bought was probably made by Child Labor (Forbes.com):
Jyothi Ramulla Naga is 4 feet tall. From sunup to sundown she is hunched over in the fields of a cottonseed farm in southern India, earning 20 cents an hour. Farmers in the Uyyalawada region process high-tech cottonseeds genetically engineered to contain a natural pesticide, on behalf of U.S. agriculture giant Monsanto.

Child labour: Govt to expand list of hazardous jobs, amend law (The Indian Express):
With instances of alleged child labour coming to light regularly despite a 22-year-old law prohibiting it, the Government is in the midst of launching a multi-pronged attack on the socio-economic menace that some developed countries have begun using as a non-tariff barrier to prevent exports from India.

Abolishing Child Labour and Protecting the Right to Education: A Rights Based Perspective (speech MV Foundation bij VN-bijeenkomst kinderrechten):
Speech by Mr. Venkat Reddy (MV Foundation, Andhra Pradesh, India) at the commemorative high-level plenary meeting to evaluate progress made in the implementation of the World Fit for Children (WFFC) Declaration and the Plan of Action. The meeting took on 11 and 12 December 2007 in New York.

'YSR govt spawning child labour' (The Times of India):
A recent international report has revealed that the state government [of Andhra Pradesh] is making a mockery of the recently-enacted Anti-Child Labour Act by actively encouraging the continuance of bonded and inhuman child labour, especially in the cotton fields in the state.

Gujarat Farmers Seek Time to End Child Labour / Crack the Whip to Ban Child Labour in Cotton Seed Farming (Infocus):
December 2007 issue of Infocus, the newsletter of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in India. It includes two short reports on the large scale child labour in cotton seed farming in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

India's small workforce: Observations on child labour (New Statesman):
Ineke Zeldenrust may not be able to leave the Netherlands if the decision of an Indian court goes against her. She works at the Clean Clothes Campaign, the Dutch NGO that seeks to end workplace abuses in clothing and sportswear factories around the world.

Bayer CropScience’ response to the report “Child bondage continues in Indian cotton supply chain” of Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu (Bayer CropScience):
Bayer CropScience appreciates that Dr. Venkateswarlu has taken a closer look at the entire cotton seed production sector of India covering also the major local seed companies which dominate the market. Without the sincere commitment of these companies, there is no hope of any relevant change in the current child labour situation of the seed production sector in India. From that particular perspective, Bayer welcomes the new report as a step in the right direction.

The human cost of a cheap shirt (EcoStreet):
This post examines some of the issues concerned with the employment of children in the production of cheap textiles in the third world. Child labour is an emotive subject and a consequence of extreme poverty which creates hunger and homelessness. There are no simple solutions and legislation alone will only drive the practice further undercover. The International Labour Rights Forum (ILRF) have concluded in a recent report that corporations are not making sufficient interventions in eliminating child labour in cotton but that is not the sole problem.

'Stick with India in Spite of Child Slave Scandals' Buyers Used (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF)):
Global brands and retailers sourcing production in India were warned today not to cut and run from existing suppliers or from India but to work with producers and the authorities to build a culture of compliance with national and international legal standards. Quitting errant suppliers without attempting to bring them into compliance would rightly invite condemnation.

Govt threatens EU with retaliatory action (Financial Express):
The government [of India] on Tuesday dismissed allegations of use of child labour against local suppliers of clothing retail major GAP as a motivated campaign on part of the rich nations and threatened Europe of possible retaliatory measures.

Indian 'slave' children found making low-cost clothes destined for Gap (The Guardian):
Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant.

Child sweatshop shame threatens Gap's ethical image (The Guardian):
An Observer investigation into children making clothes has shocked the retail giant and may cause it to withdraw apparel ordered for Christmas.

Child slavery thriving in Indian cotton industry (OneWorld South Asia):
India has distinction of having the largest area under cotton cultivation in the world and has been a pioneer in developing hybrid cotton seeds for commercial use. The Indian cottonseed industry is also marked by the highest proportion of child labour in its workforce.

Minister hits out at 'false reports' on child labour by NGOs (The Times):
Foreign social activists are spreading “false reports” about the use of child labourers in India that are damaging its global corporate image, according to the country’s Trade Minister.

NGOs spreading wrong information, India tells Dutch minister (The Economic Times):
The government on Wednesday raised with the Netherlands the issue of some European NGOs spreading "incorrect information" about Indian industry employing child labour and violating human rights.

Monsanto response to “Child bondage continues in Indian cotton supply chain” (Business & Human Rights resource Centre):
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Monsanto to respond to the following report: “Child bondage continues in Indian cotton supply chain”, Dr Davuluri Venkateswarlu, September 2007.

Over 4 lakh children work in cotton seed farms (The Hindu):
Notwithstanding the series of `proactive´ steps taken so far to discourage the obnoxious practice of child labour, a study commissioned by five international agencies has revealed that over four lakh children continue to slog on hybrid cotton seed farms across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

India's cotton fields: Over 4 lakh child labourers (Rediff.com):
More than four lakh children, mostly girls and under 18 years of age, are involved as child labour in cottonseed fields in India, a human rights report has said.

'Over 4 lakh kids in India are bonded labourers' (Times of India/Press Trust of India/India Express/ZeeNews.com/The Hindu):
More than four lakh children, mostly girls and under 18 years of age, are involved as child labour in cottonseed fields in India, a human rights report has said.

Four lakh children slogging in cotton fields: report (Hindustan Times):
About four lakh Indian children are engaged in hybrid cotton fields in four cotton growing states, says a report by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN).

Increased Levels of Child Labor in India's Cotton Industry Reported (GoodWeave.org):
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), along with international partners including OECD Watch, India Committee of the Netherlands, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and Eine Welt Netz NRW, released a report today focused on recent trends in employment of child labor on cottonseed farms in India. The report estimates that roughly 416,460 children, out of which 224,960 are under the age of 14, are still working on cottonseed farms in the four major producing states in India, representing an increase from the 2003-2004 harvest season.

EU: European Commission ignores child labor, critics say (IPSNews.net/TradingCharts.com/TMCnet.com):
Each time European Union officials take a coffee break, there is a reasonable chance that the contents of their cups originated from a plantation where young children do grueling work.

Immer noch Kinderarbeit in der indischen Baumwoll-Industrie (Entwicklungspolitik Online):
In Indien arbeiten noch immer Kinder auf Farmen, die Baumwoll-Saatgut beispielsweise für die Bayer-Tochterfirma ProAgro herstellen. Das ist das Ergebnis einer Studie, die das Eine Welt Netz Nordrhein-Westfalens zum 12. Juni 2007, dem internationalen Tag gegen Kinderarbeit, veröffentlicht hat. Die Studie Die Saat der Kinderarbeit untersucht die Aktivit&aauml;ten der Konzerne Monsanto und Bayer gegen ausbeuterische Kinderarbeit in der indischen Produktion von Baumwoll-Saatgut. Erstellt wurde die Studie vom indischen Wissenschaftler Dr. Davuluri Venkateswarlu im Auftrag des Eine Welt Netzes NRW, der Deutschen Welthungerhilfe und Nichtregierungsorganisationen aus den Niederlanden und den USA.

Global trade unions: India seriously violates core labour standards (ITUC):
There remain serious violations of all core labour standards in India, states a new ITUC report. The report is being released today to coincide with India’s trade policy review at the WTO on 23 and 25 May.

A voice for the voiceless (Concern Worldwide):
Shantha Sinha, one of the world's most fearless crusaders for children's rights, tells Richard Fitzpatrick what needs to be done to eliminate the curse of child labour exploitation. Published in The Irish Examiner 9 May 2007.

Scandal of the quarry children (Yorkshire Post):
In the average Indian quarry 20 per cent of the workforce is made up of child labour, some as young as six. We expose the shocking truth behind the cheap sandstone being exported to the UK and find out what one Yorkshire company is doing about it.

A hard price to pay for stone floors (The Telegraph):
Quarried stone floors are in huge demand, but consumers seldom know the cost that may be borne by exploited child workers in India. Martin Baker speaks to a man trying to change an industry.
...
The India Committee of the Netherlands [a Dutch quango charged with welfare issues for people originating from India] estimates that 20 per cent of [Indian] production uses child labour.

SAVE THE CHILDREN UK: Why Corporate Social Responsibility is failing children (CRIN):
Companies who are not adhering to corporate social responsibility codes are failing millions of children, says a new report.
The report, Why Corporate Social Responsibility is Failing Children, by Save the Children and The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition, reviews three voluntary codes for companies and reveals that all three have been violated by leading companies. The report concludes that voluntary initiatives alone are wholly inadequate as a means of improving the lives of children. This is because they fail to be enforced and because they attract only a small sub-section of companies in each sector.

"Think Locally, Act Globally?" An actor-oriented case study on the transnational cooperation of NGOs on BAYER and child labour in Andhra Pradesh, India (Master Thesis Julia Brümmer, University of Maastricht):
This master thesis analyses a transnational campaign on a particular case of child labour – namely in the cottonseed production of the multinational company Bayer CropScience in Andhra Pradesh, India. Adopting an actor-oriented approach, it looks at the way in which various non-governmental actors from Europe and India have created a transnational network on the case, thus re-embedding the local problem into a global context. Based on a study of written publications and on interviews with all organisations participating in the campaign as well as with ‘external’ actors, it is established how the local problem is (re-) defined through the interaction of various actors with different approaches and interests. The findings suggest that an actor-oriented approach may help understand how the internal dynamics of a (transnational NGO) network influence its orientation and effectiveness.

Between a rock and a hard place - how UK patios rely on child labour: Huge sandstone quarries are fuelling landscaping boom on the cheap (The Guardian):
In the blazing morning sun Naresh swings a hammer on to a square grey sandstone slab, his features focused on chipping away the rock until it is the length of his feet. Around the boy are crates of blocks, which are graded by texture and shape before being tied up into neat bundles.

Irish MEP set to put EU spotlight on global horror of child labour (Independent.ie):
Irish retailers will be asked to carry 'Child-Labour-Free' labels on clothing and sports goods, under proposals being put to the European Commission this week. Dublin MEP Proinsias De Rossa, with the backing of Irish charity groups, will this week submit a report to the European Commission on child labour exploitation.

Seven reasons why the ILO should focus on all forms of child labour in its global action plan (OneWorld):
This year's International Labour Conference of the ILO will be take place between the 31st of May and the 16th of June. One of the items on the agenda is the new ILO Global Report The end of child labour: Within reach. The report ends with a global action plan which proposes 'to pursue the goal of effective abolition of child labour by committing themselves to the elimination of all worst forms of child labour by 2016'.

Dutch fashion house eradicates child labour in India (PeoplePlanetProfit.be):
"In about eight years we have been able to get thousands of Indian children out of workplaces and send them to school." This is not exactly the core business of a textile company, but surprisingly it has been achieved by the Dutch fashion house Cora Kemperman. Gloria Kok, one of the two owners: “Our model could easily be implemented by other textile companies, but unfortunately most of them interpret corporate social responsibility as charity."...

India's lost children (IndUS Business Journal):
According to the India-based Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation, there are 80 million child laborers working in India. This non-governmental organization has been working for over 13 years to get the message out about abolishing this practice, but it has also gone a step further — it is helping former child laborers by providing them with an education.

"Ground Zero" for exploited Indian sandstone quarry workers (MinesAndCommunities.org):
A recent report gives a shocking account of the inhuman living and working conditions of workers involved in sandstone quarrying in the state of Rajasthan in India. Child labour, bonded labour, exploitative wages, rampant occupational diseases like silicosis and bronchitus, alcoholism, as well as women's threathened livelihoods, are some of its main features.

Bt cotton seed firms at the receiving end (Financial Express):
The Andhra Pradesh government has expressed concern over the inadequate payment to farmers by seed companies for producing Bt cotton seeds. It has also criticised “aggressive marketing strategies” of Bt cotton seed companies and urged them to educate farmers on pest control measures. The state government has written to the Union government as to why field trials of Bt Okra was conducted in the state without its knowledge. The state agriculture minister, N Raghuveera Reddy, admitted having received some adverse reports about performance of Bt cotton seeds. He said: “We sent a team of scientists from the agricultural universities to verify the situation."

Proagro penalises 11 cottonseed growers for employing child labour (Business Standard):
Proagro, a company of Bayer Cropsciences, has decided to penalise 11 farmers and cancel the contracts with three more for employing child labour in the cottonseed production last year.

Proagro to provide lower interest credits to farmers (Business Standard):
Proagro-Bayer CropScience has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India to arrange lower interest credits to cottonseed growers as a part of its initiative to improve productivity and profitability under its Harvest of Happiness project to eradicate child labour.

Bonded for life (NewIndPress):
In Andhra Pradesh, young prepubescent girls are taken out of school so they can pollinate cottonseed farms.

The 14 worst corporate offenders (IndyBay.org):
...
According to the India Committee of the Netherlands and the International Labor Rights Fund, Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375 children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational seed companies, including Monsanto.
...

European Commission cottons on child labour (The Times of India):
Working 13 hours a day under the blazing sun for a measly Rs 25-30 a day is no child's play.

Syngenta & co responsible for rampant child labour on Indian cotton farms (GMWatch):
Two separate studies conducted recently held that multinationals like Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta and Indian companies like Nuziveedu Seeds, Raasi Seeds and Ankur Seeds as responsible for the situation [extensive use of child labour].

Child labour rampant in AP cotton farms, report (Financial Express):
Production of cotton seeds has become problematic with recent studies revealing extensive use of child labour. Two separate studies conducted recently held that multinationals like Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta and Indian companies like Nuziveedu Seeds, Raasi Seeds and Ankur Seeds as responsible for the situation.

Monsanto still involved in child labour in India (GMWatch):
Over the last few years a series of reports have exposed the involvement of Monsanto and other multinationals in largescale child labour in India, as part of cotton seed production.
In 2003, for instance, a report showed, "around 17,000 children work for Monsanto and their Indian subsidiary Mahyco. These children get no education, earn less than 40 Eurocents (Rs. 20) a day and are exposed to poisonous pesticides like Endosuphan during their work. More than 11.000 children work under similar conditions for the multinationals Syngenta (Swiss), Advanta (Dutch-British) and Proagro (owned by Bayer from Germany)."

MNC seed cos chalk out action plan for child labour (Business Standard):
Multinational seed companies, Emergent Genetics and Proagro, which have their operations across Andhra Pradesh, have chalked out an action plan in collaboration with non-government organisations to address the problem of employment of child labour in hybrid cottonseed production in the state.

Low cottonseed procurement price spawns child labour (Business Standard):
An inalienable link has been established between the procurement price by seed companies including multinational enterprises and use of child labour in hybrid cottonseed production in Andhra Pradesh.

NGO's role in educating girls impresses EU team (The Hindu):
European Parliamentarians visit bridge school run by MV Foundation.

"Glückliche Ernte" für Bayer-Profite (Die Tageszeitung):
Der deutsche Chemiekonzern will eigentlich gegen Kinderarbeit vorgehen. Aktivisten unterstellen aber, dass Bayer weiter von Kinderarbeit profitiert: Indische Zulieferer des Konzerns würden tausende Kinder auf Baumwollfeldern rücksichtslos ausbeuten.

Earnest drive against domestic child labour (The Hindu):
"A child employed is a future destroyed," argues R. Venkat Reddy of the M.V Foundation, an anti-child labour group. "No child wants to work as a domestic help," says Mr. Reddy.

Withering cotton kids (Mumbai Mirror):
On a hot September afternoon, the hybrid cottonseed farms in this village buzz with activity. However, from a distance, one can only make out a sea of heads bobbing amidst the green plants, not because the cottonseed plants are very tall but because the workers on the field are really young.

Children of the farms (Mumbai Mirror):
Around 82,875 children are employed in the cottonseed farms of Mahbubnagar and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh and the girl child constitutes most of the work force.

Facing up to the child labour challenge (Ethical Corporation):
The recent report Our Mining Children by Indian NGOs has again thrown light on the pandemic that is child labour in the country.

"Our Mining Children" - A Report of the Fact Finding Team on the Child Labourers in the Iron Ore and Granite Mines in Bellary District of Karnataka (MV Foundation/mines, minerals & PEOPLE/...):
A report of the fact finding team on the child labourers in the iron ore and granite mines in Bellary district of Karnataka.

The missing children (Asian Age).

International Conference on "Out of Work and Into School - Children's Right to Education as a Non-negotiable" (Hyderabad, 2-5 November 2004; Final Report):
Several leading industrial houses have backed the Government's commitment to provide greater opportunities to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as part of affirmative action, including job reservation in the private sector.

India: economic boom masks widespread child labour (ICFTU):
Despite its record economic performance, India is still plagued by immense social hardship, with 400 million people living below the poverty line. That poverty is a major cause of the widespread practice of child labour: with its 60 million exploited children, India has the largest number of child workers in the world.

Workers’ Playtime? Child Labour at the Extremes of the Sporting Spectrum (Sport in Society):
Workers’ Playtime was a BBC Radio lunchtime variety programme, broadcast live from factory canteens around Britain in the 1940s and 1950s. Its title recognized lunchtime as a break from work, a time when workers might play. When applied to children, when children are workers, this title takes on a more sinister connotation. Play is supposed to be characteristic of childhood, and play is considered to be intrinsic to healthy child development – physical, mental, and social. When applied to children who work at sport, and in the industries that supply sporting goods, ‘workers’ playtime’ has a cruel irony. This article is about those children.

The Seeds of Child Labor (Boloji):
Nearly 400,000 children, mostly girls between seven and 14 years of age, toil for 14-16 hours a day in cottonseed production across the country. In Andhra Pradesh (AP), which accounts for 60 per cent of the hybrid cottonseed production, girls (mostly from the lower caste) earn about Rs 20 (1US$=Rs 45) per day; sleep in cowsheds or makeshift camps; and are constantly exposed to poisonous pesticides like endosulfan.

The Politics of Negotiations: MVF and Multinational Corporations on Child Labor in Cottonseed Fields (Yumi Lifer):
The employment of children in cottonseed fields of Andhra Pradesh in India has become a global issue in recent years. As a result of media campaigns from numerous international lobbyists and efforts to eliminate child labor from local NGO’s, multinational corporations have been increasingly cooperative in negotiating and taking responsibility towards finding a solution to the issue. One local NGO based in Secunderabad, Mamadipudi Venkatarangaya Foundation (MVF), has taken the lead in not only raising awareness in local communities against child labor in cotton fields, but has also recently taken steps to negotiate with multinational corporations to eliminate the use of child laborers in their fields. The involvement of the corporations in the negotiations is critical in the progress towards a solution. MNCs can provide initiatives to eliminate some key factors perpetuating the employment of children (such as insufficient wages and lack of implementation of existing laws). It is the responsibility of the MNCs to ensure that human rights are not violated in any step of the line in the production of their products. MNCs, though slow to respond and take responsibility in earlier stages, have become active in ongoing negotiations. It is the methods and strategies that the NGOs have utilized in the progress of negotiations and the consequential shifts of the responsibilities taken by the MNCs that are being discussed in this report.

Striving for better lives (The Hindu):
Shantha Sinha, the scholar-activist, is unstinting in her crusade for social causes like eradication of child labour, compulsory school education and the status of the girl child. SUMANASPATI talks to this Magsaysay Award winner about the issues close to her heart and the activities of the M.V. Foundation.

Girls fettered: bonded labour on AP farms (Deccan Herald)
A new trend of employing young girls as "bonded labourers" has come into practice on hybrid cottonseed farms in south India in recent years, a recent survey reveals.
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The study was commissioned by the India Committee of Netherlands. However, the MNCs do not own responsibility for employment of female child labour. One MNC said it did not employ child labour directly and this practice was being perpetuated by local farmers.

Girls in India Labor to Fill MNC Coffers, Says Report (OneWorld South Asia)
Around 200 Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) engaged in the production and marketing of hybrid cottonseeds, buy the produce from Indian farmers who employ thousands of small girls as forced labour in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, says a recent report.
Nine out of ten workers in cottonseed fields are children, mostly girls, says the report Child labor and Trans-National Seed Companies in Hybrid Cottonseed Production in Andhra Pradesh -- published by the India Committee of the Netherlands, a campaigning organization supporting the poor in India. The children earn less than half a dollar a day.

Monsanto, Unilever use child labour in India (IndiaResource.org)
Both Hindustan Lever Ltd., an Indian subsidiary of British-Dutch multinational company Unilever, as well as the American multinational Monsanto are making use of hazardous forms of child labour in cotton seed production in India on a large scale. An estimated number of 25,000 children, mostly girls, work an average of ten to thirteen hours a day for Hindustan Lever, while around 17,000 children work for Monsanto and their Indian subsidiary Mahyco.

Unilever and child labour (Expatica.com)
A new report has criticised consumer goods giant Unilever for links to child labour in India. But what is so wrong with giving young people in poor countries the chance to earn a living?
Anglo-Dutch company Unilever prides itself on "meeting the everyday needs of people everywhere" by producing a myriad of consumer goods from washing powders to shampoos and toothpaste. It is number one in the world for ice cream, margarines and tea drinks.

Unilever is accused of abetting child labour (South China Morning Post)
The company seeks to clarify claims its Indian suppliers hire girls as young as six. Multinational firm Unilever has pursued policies that encourage child labour, according to a report published by campaigners for underage workers in India's huge cotton seed industry. The Anglo-Dutch giant said it was opposed to child labour and would be happy to meet the voluntary group responsible for the report, the India Committee of the Netherlands, to discuss its findings.

Unilever, Monsanto, others linked to child labour in India's cotton industry (Global Ethics Monitor)
Multinational companies, including Unilever PLC, Monsanto Co, Syngenta AG, Advanta Corp and Bayer AG have been indirectly linked with the widespread use of child labour in India through a network of subsidiaries which produce and market hybrid cotton seeds, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report, published by independent NGO the India Committee of the Netherlands, said these companies buy hybrid cotton seeds from farmers who pay children a pittance to work long hours in hazardous conditions.

Unilever in Child Labor Controversy (RetailWire)
A report published by the India Committee of the Netherlands claims Unilever buys hybrid cotton seeds from farmers who are using children as young as six years old as their labor force.

Unilever denies child labour link (BBCNews.com)
Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, has denied that its policies encourage child labour in India.

Unilever to work on child labor practice (Newsday.com)
The Anglo-Dutch food maker Unilever agreed Monday to meet with labor watchdog organizations over allegations that the multibillion dollar company profits from the employment of tens of thousands of children, some as young as 6, working on farms in India for just pennies a day.

Childhood, cropped (IndiaTogether.org)
Both Hindustan Lever Ltd., the Indian subsidiary of British-Dutch multinational company Unilever, as well as the American multinational Monsanto are making use of hazardous forms of child labour in cotton seed production in India on a large scale, the India Committee of the Netherlands reports. An estimated 25,000 children, mostly girls, work an average of ten to thirteen hours a day for Hindustan Lever, while around 17,000 children work for Monsanto and its Indian subsidiary Mahyco. These children get no education, earn less than Rs.20 a day and are exposed to poisonous pesticides like Endosulphan during their work. More than 11,000 children work under similar conditions for the multinationals Syngenta (Swiss), Advanta (Dutch-British) and Proagro (owned by Bayer of Germany).

Child Labour and Trans-National Seed Companies in Hybrid Cotton Seed Production in Andhra Pradesh (ICN):
A new system of employing female children as 'bonded labourers' has come into practice on hybrid cottonseed farms in south India in recent years. Local seed farmers, who cultivate hybrid cottonseeds for national and Multinational Seed Companies, secure the labour of girls by offering loans to their parents in advance of cultivation, compelling the girls to work at the terms set by the employer for the entire season, and, in practice, for several years. These girls work long days, are paid very little, are deprived of an education and are exposed for long periods to dangerous agricultural chemicals.

'The Dark Side of Football: Child and adult labour in India's football industry and the role of FIFA' (ICN):
Report by ICN.
This report takes a close look at child labour and working conditions in the sport goods industry in Punjab, India. It also describes and discusses the various initiatives taken nationally and internationally to tackle these issues. In India the initiatives of the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) and the Sports Goods Foundation of India (SGFI) are among the most prominent.
Internationally the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), FIFA and its licensing organization ISL (International Sports and Leisure), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) as well as the major sports goods companies play an important role. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF are other major players in the field of child rights and labour rights.

Football dreams stitched with children's hands: India, China and Pakistan still harbour child labourers and unfair labour conditions (CleanClothes.ch):
Child labour and highly unfair labour conditions for adult stitchers in the football industry are still common practices, despite the fact that the contracts between FIFA and sporting goods companies promise the opposite. This was revealed by the Global March Against Child Labour in a presentation of three new reports on China, India and Pakistan.

Sports Goods Industry: India doesn't produce 'fair footballs' yet (India Nu):
Millions of football fans are looking forward to the European Championships Football (EURO 2000) that will take place in the Netherlands and Belgium in June. Football is by far the most popular sport in Europe, and especially during an event like EURO 2000 nearly everybody claims to be an 'expert'. Where the footballs come from, is far less known. India is the second largest producer of footballs, Pakistan being the world leader. In 1998 the Netherlands imported 'inflatable balls' from India worth nearly two million Dutch guilders (Rs. 4 crore). Great Britain imported worth Rs. 80 crore. The total value of Indian sports goods exports amounts to Rs. 300 crore a year, most of which come from Jalandhar (Punjab). Gerard Oonk from The India Committee of the Netherlands visited this major production area and came across child labour and low wages.

Seeds of Bondage: Female child bonded labour in hybrid cottonseed production in Andhra Pradesh (BCF/Plan International):
This study by Davuluri Venkateswarlu gives a vivid account of how children are virtually trapped in a never ending cycle of debt and exploitation and are forced to work on long-term contract basis with low wages. During the summer season when availability of work becomes very scarce in the region, seed producers approach families and extend loans to them on the promise that they send their young daughters to work in the cotton fields during the next season. Parents are thus forced to send their daughters for work in the cotton fields as per the agreement settled in the earlier season.

Child labour - NGO fouls football units (ExpressIndia.com):
Gandhi Camp, Batala (Gurdaspur district): According to our informant, at least 10 per cent of the population (in the locality) earns a living by stitching balls... We mainly see women and girls at work. A few girls tell us they are getting Rs 2 for half a ball. Working 12 hours a day, they make Rs 15 to Rs 20 each. Another girl is working for Globe Sports. The footballs she is stitching carry the tag: 'No child labourer used'.

Child and adult labour in India's football industry (CleanClothes.org):
Find here a summary of a report on India's football industry. The full report can be found on the website of the India Committee of the Netherlands: http://www.indianet.nl/iv.html. The Dark Side of Football - Child and adult labour in India's football industry and the role of FIFA: India Committee of the Netherlands (June 2000).

Girl child labour and education (MV Foundation).

A profile of the M. Venkatarangaiya Foundation (MV Foundation).

M. Venkatarangaiya Foundation's experiences in elimination of child labour through education - A brief note (MV Foundation).

website MV Foundation (MV Foundation).

Teachers' Forum for Liberation of Child Labour (Bala Karmika Vimochana Vedika (BKVV)).

Global March: Spend one thousandth of world's wealth on children's rights (Global March).