Key Findings

There is a slight divergence between China and other countries when comparing the locations with the highest likelihood of discovering child labor, with fewer cases discovered in canteens in China than in other countries. However, what they all have in common is that factories with simple production processes such as finishing and packaging have the highest likelihood of employing child laborers, while heavy ones usually have the lowest likelihood( Figure 4).

Figure 4:

100 80 60 40

Bangladesh India Vietnam China

Key Findings

There are no major differences in the typical procedures used to identify child labor in different countries. While the vast majority of the auditors identify child labor by interviewing the child, less than half of the auditors( even fewer in China) interview other workers about suspected child labor cases.

Since interviewing the child is the number one means of verifying their age, the auditors’ interviewing / communications skills might naturally play an important role in the successful identification of child labor. Such an internal factor might explain why we saw clear disparities when looking at the number of child labor cases between auditors of different gender, experience and, in some cases, training. We will explore these differences in depth in the“ Difference Between Auditors” section below.

An experienced auditor from Vietnam who preferred to stay anonymous stresses the importance of being able to adapt one’ s communication style to the child’ s age. She thinks it is a must-have skill for an auditor.“ Children shouldn’ t be asked direct questions [ about their age ] as this may scare them off”. She is also one of the few auditors who interviews other workers to determine whether or not this was an isolated case( for full story, please refer to appendix 3).

5 Best Response: Auditors’ Insights on Child Labor in Asia