Key Findings

Figure 5:

100

How is child labor usually identified?

80

60

40

20

80 % 77 % 68 % 55 % 40 %

All

Bangladesh

India

Vietnam

• 30 % of the suspected child labor cases encountered in the past 2 years were not corroborated

In general, absence of identification documents to verify the age is the main reason for failing to corroborate suspected child labor cases( Figure 6). When the factories do not keep copies of the age verification documents in their personnel files, the situation can get complicated, even for a an experienced auditor. Although auditors most likely ascertain the real ages of suspected child laborers through nuanced interviews, it may not always work.

More than half of the auditors identify child labor by examining staff records. In some cases, if the factory hides the records of the suspected child laborer and refuses to provide further information, auditors fail to corroborate the case. It is interesting to see how lack of factory cooperation is a much bigger reason for such failure in China than in other countries.

It is possible that this is caused by brands having little leverage / business impact( i. e. small percentage of factory order) over factories in China. In fact, when we look at common challenges in securing factory cooperation in child labor remediation in section 5, we will see that lack of business impact on factories is a much more prominent reason in China than in other countries( Figure 18 on page 18). From both a compliance and capacity building perspective, this suggests that brands with overlapping supply chains might need to form stronger collaborations in order to be able to hold factories more accountable for child labor prevention and remediation.

“ It is also difficult for us to get the real age of the child from child himself / herself, as most children don’ t know their date of birth exactly.”- An auditor from India

Best Response: Auditors’ Insights on Child Labor in Asia 6