List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor

There are reports that children ages 5 to 17 produce sugarcane in Cambodia. Child labor in the sugarcane sector occurs on both commercial plantations and smallholder farms. Children from families that have lost land through concessions to sugar companies are particularly vulnerable to exploitative labor on plantations. According to international organizations, NGOs, and media reports, child labor in the Cambodian sugarcane sector is a widespread concern, with numerous incidents reported across the country, including reports of hundreds of children cutting cane on plantations in the Koh Kong province. Children laboring in the sugarcane fields often work long hours under the hot sun and report difficulty breathing, headaches, and dizziness as a result. Child workers in this sector perform hazardous tasks such as carrying heavy bundles of sugarcane, using dangerous tools, and spraying toxic pesticides. Many children incur injuries on the job, including skin infections and cuts from sharp cane leaves or knives. 

Khmer Translation

There are reports that children are forced to produce bricks in Cambodia. According to international researchers and NGOs, numerous incidents of forced child labor have been reported in Cambodia. Reports estimate over 9.3 percent of brick workers are children. However, with upwards of tens of thousands of workers employed at brick kilns and the casual nature of work in brick kilns, this number is likely higher. A cycle of multi-generational debt bondage is created when adults are unable to pay back the high interest charged on loans offered by brick kiln owners and are forced to pass along outstanding debts to their children. Children either inherit or are born into debt bondage and are threatened with arrest or are forced to pay additional debt if they try to leave the brick kiln without repaying their debts in full.

Khmer 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

ILAB has reason to believe that lithium-ion batteries manufactured in China are produced with an input produced with child labor, specifically cobalt ore mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Cobalt ore from the DRC was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2009 for child labor. Cobalt is used in the production of nearly all lithium-ion batteries.

The DRC produces the majority of the world’s cobalt. Most cobalt-producing mines in the DRC are owned or financed by Chinese companies. In 2020, China imported $2.17 billion of cobalt from the DRC. Between 49–80 percent of China’s refined cobalt imports are used to produce battery chemicals and components. Global imports of lithium-ion batteries from China were reported to be over $16.5 billion in 2020. Of the $4.3 billion in lithium-ion battery imports to the United States in 2020, 47.22 percent ($2.1 billion) were imported from China.

This research suggests that further downstream products containing lithium-ion batteries may be produced with an input produced with child labor, such as electric cars, laptops, and cell phones.