children stitch shoes for global market in india\'s tourist magnet
MUMBAI (
Thomson Reuters Foundation-
Activists say eight-year-old children who are out of school and working under dangerous conditions to produce shoes for the global market in Agra, the Taj Mahal, are calling on footwear brands to work with local governments to clean up the supply chain.
In addition to tourist attractions, Agra is also a major shoe-making center that produces nearly 0. 2 billion pairs of shoes per year, and the industry employs the population of the city, according to research by the Fair Labor Association (FLA).
Children in small informal workshops and homes were found to be involved in the manufacturing process from hand and machine stitching to applying adhesives and packing shoes, the report said.
\"They can\'t get into a nearby school, which makes it possible for them to work,\" said Venkat Reddy of the MV Foundation, a non-
The profitable organization that commissioned the study and members of the coalition to stop child labor.
\"We found that because most children work from home, they do not follow a fixed working time.
\"They will not rest because of every piece of work,\" Reddy told Thomson Reuters Foundation . \".
\"The children we meet work collectively throughout the day in poorly ventilated small rooms, which poses a risk to health.
They never played.
\"Labor officials in the northern Indian state of Agra did not respond to requests for comment.
Only half of the children making shoes or those living in the survey area are enrolled in school, and the study is supported by global footwear brands from Agra.
India is the second largest producer of footwear and leather apparel in the world.
According to a report by the Dutch Indian Commission, nearly 90% of India\'s footwear exports go to the EU (ICN). About 2.
The ICN report, released earlier this year, said 5 million Indian workers have worked hard for poor wages in the leather industry with toxic chemicals.
FLA\'s study at Agra found that factories exporting shoes had taken measures to prevent child labor, but subcontracting work to small production units or families meant that many workplaces escaped scrutiny.
Sofie Ovaa, coordinator of the coalition to stop child labor, said community wages have increased
Based on stopping child labor and top-
Regulations are needed to put an end to this practice.