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