Corporation+labor+policies

According to the International Labour Organization, child labour ‘is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.’ This includes work that interferes with children’s schooling. Our Workplace Standards state that our suppliers must not employ children less than 15 or less than the age for completing compulsory education, if that is higher than 15. In the mid-1990s, cases of child labour were uncovered in the football-stitching centre of Sialkot, Pakistan. This was addressed through an industry-wide initiative supported by the ILO and UNICEF, establishing an independent child labour monitoring body which is now self-governing. The underlying issues of poverty, employment and access to schooling were addressed through a combination of educational and social development programmes. To date the adidas Group has helped more than 20,000 children to stay in scho ol.
 * Adidas Child Labour Law **



**VICTORIA'S SECRET CHILD LABOR LAW**!
On the victoria's secret corprate website they stated that they DID NOT use child labor in the products but the article found stated different The apparel industry is one of the major culprits. Bloomberg [|revealed] that Victoria's Secret uses forced child labor in the West African nation of Burkina Faso to pick the cotton used for its bras and panties. Victoria's Secret struck a deal to buy [|fair trade and organic cotton], and labeled the products "Good for women." The group [|Fairtrade International] even certified the cotton. According to their website, their standards -- which are met by producers and traders -- are designed to address the imbalances and injustices of conventional trade. "Fairtrade is an alternative approach to conventional trade and is based on a partnership between producers and consumers," according to the Fairtrade website. "Fairtrade offers producers a better deal and improved terms of trade. This allows them the opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future. Fairtrade offers consumers a powerful way to reduce poverty through their every day shopping."

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Gap Uses Child Labor The multi-billion dollar global fashion company Gap has admitted that it may have unknowingly used child labor in the production of a line of children's clothing in India. McDougall said the children seen working on the Gap clothing all came from the poor Indian state of Bihar, a favourite hunting ground for traffickers looking for cheap underage labor. Impoverished parents are tricked into selling their children for a few dollars with the empty promise that they will be well cared for and will send back their wages. Technically, child labor is against the law in India. "It's illegal for children to work in factories in India [and] in a range of other hazardous industries," said Sama Coursen-Neff of Human Rights Watch. "But unfortunately, the government has lacked the political will to enforce its own labor laws. Many children are working in horrific conditions, including those that amount to slavery." This is not the first time that an American company has been accused of using child labor, inadvertently or otherwise, through its third-world suppliers. Ten years ago, a human rights group charged that a clothing line owned by TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford and sold at Wal-Mart was produced by children in sweatshops. Gifford later became a crusader against the use of child labor.



Apple Caught Using Child Labor At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple. The company did not name the offending factories, or say where they were based, but the majority of its goods are assembled in China. Apple also has factories working for it in Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, the Czech Republic and the United States. Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage. "In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment," Apple said, in an annual report on its suppliers. Apple has been repeatedly criticised for using factories that abuse workers and where conditions are poor. Last week, it emerged that 62 workers at a factory that manufactures products for Apple and Nokia had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause muscular degeneration and blur eyesight. Apple has not commented on the problems at the plant, which is run by Wintek, in the Chinese city of Suzhou.