List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor

There is evidence that children between the ages of 5 and 14 work in the harvesting and production of grapes in Colombia.  Based on an analysis of the Colombia Great Household Survey – Child Labor Module, an estimated 31,834 children under the minimum age for work are involved in child labor in the harvesting and production of grapes.  The release of this survey demonstrates the Government of Colombia’s commitment to addressing child labor and its acknowledgment that data collection is vital to the design and implementation of sound policies and programs.

There are reports that children ages 5 to 17 work in granite quarries in Burkina Faso. These children are primarily found in granite quarries located in Pissy and Yagma, on the outskirts of the capital, Ouagadougou. According to Government of Burkina Faso officials, NGOs, and the U.S. Department of State, numerous incidents of child labor have been reported in these granite quarries, including hundreds of children working in the Pissy quarry, and NGOs report that the problem is increasing. Children work for long hours breaking large rocks by hand and carrying heavy loads of dirt, rock, and gravel. Children in granite quarries are at high risk of physical injury, and are exposed to large quantities of dust and smoke, which can cause respiratory diseases. Some children also experience physical abuse in the quarries. 

French Translation

There are reports that children, mostly boys ages 4-17, are forced to quarry granite in Nigeria. Some children are abducted and trafficked from within Nigeria and from Benin to work in granite quarries and mines in the Federal Capital Territory, as well as the states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Ogun, Oyo, and Osun. Reports from the United Nations (UN) and media indicate that between 5,000 and 6,000 children from Benin alone were forced to work in the granite quarries; multiple government rescue operations identified between 50 and 200 children engaged in this work at a time. The children are forced to work up to 16 hours a day, even when they are sick. Many are forced to work under threat of physical violence. Children are often forced to sleep outside and are denied food. Reports indicate that children frequently die while working, having been forced to work under extreme conditions.

There are reports that children are forced to mine gold in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso. According to a report by the ILO containing the most recently available data, in the combined Sahel regions of Burkina Faso and Niger, up to 30-50 percent of the gold mine workforce is comprised of children; most are under the age of 15, and some work under conditions of forced labor. Some children from around the country are trafficked to mines in the country's Ioba, Oudalan, Passore, and Sissili provinces. These children work in small informal mines that are located in remote rural areas and mostly operate on a seasonal basis. The children, beginning between ages 12 and 14, are forced to work in hazardous conditions digging, breaking rocks, transporting, washing, and pounding the gold, including work underground in narrow shafts. These children receive little or no payment, with many receiving wage deductions for lodging and food expenses. 

French Translation

There are reports that children are involved in the mining of gold in eastern Cameroon. Children often mine alongside their families in artisanal mines, and reports indicate that their ages range from under age 10 to 17. Sometimes children mine gold by themselves for sale on the black market. Evidence of child labor has been found in Batouri and Kambele, near the border with the Central African Republic. Reports indicate that thousands of children in Kambele work in artisanal gold mining, while in nearby Batouri, roughly 90 percent of children participate in gold mining. Children mine in hazardous conditions, including standing in stagnant water, working underground, and using mercury to extract the gold dust. Many children leave school to work in gold mining, and a report indicates that over 75 percent of the students in one school stopped attending school to mine gold.

French Translation

There are reports that children as young as age 5 are engaged in artisanal gold mining in the Central African Republic (CAR). Gold production has increased significantly in CAR since 2019. The mineral is mined in 14 of the country’s 16 provinces, with sites located in and along active rivers, in terrace deposits, and in underground tunnels. Despite national labor and mining legislation prohibiting mining by any person under the age of 18 due to the hazards it entails, field research estimates that as many as 52,600 children work in gold mines across the country, 13,800 of whom are under the age of 14. Entire families move to areas where gold is found, and children participate in both primary and secondary tasks, including washing, transporting, and processing ore, digging, and collecting firewood and water. Children work without protective equipment and are exposed to risks of tunnel collapse, water-borne diseases, drowning, mercury exposure, and physical injuries.

There are reports that adults are forced to work in gold mining in Chad. Migrants, mainly men, travel from southern and eastern Chad as well as from neighboring countries to the northern goldmining areas in Tibesti in search of economic opportunity. However, research indicates that many job-seekers are exploited by human smugglers who serve as recruiters for the northern gold mines, with deceptive promises regarding their employment arrangements and the wages they will earn. Workers frequently travel on credit and then must work to pay off their debt, which doubles when it is bought by the mine owners. Victims report withholding of pay and sale of their debt without their consent from one site boss to another. While the Chadian government has banned weapons at the handful of sites it controls, many other sites remain outside the reach of its security forces and are controlled by armed groups, where workers labor and live under constant threat of violence. Workers report experiencing abusive working conditions and physical violence, especially if they fail to find enough gold or attempt to leave. Some are induced to use narcotics such as tramadol to improve their performance. Reporting from an intergovernmental organization documented over 200 workers—out of a sample of 554—who had been subjected to indicators of forced labor in the northern gold mines; with an estimated mining population of between 20,000 and 40,000 workers in the area, this in conjunction with other evidence suggests conditions of forced labor are prevalent in gold mining in Chad.

French Translation