List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor

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, ages 8-17, are forced to produce bricks in China, with concentrations in the Shanxi and Henan provinces. Victims are from provinces across China; some children are abducted or trafficked through coercion and sold to work in brick kilns. Information from media sources and a research study indicate that the children are forced to work without pay under threat of physical violence, held against their will, watched by guards, and denied sufficient food. 

Chinese Translation

ILAB has reason to believe that multiple solar products produced in China are made with an input using forced labor, specifically from polysilicon produced in China. These products include photovoltaic ingots and wafers (China), solar cells (China), and solar modules (China).

Polysilicon was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2021 for forced labor. Forty-five percent of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon and more than half of China’s polysilicon is produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where research has shown it is produced under conditions of forced labor. China has 98 percent of the world's manufacturing capacity for photovoltaic ingots; 97 percent for photovoltaic wafers; 81 percent for solar cells; and 77 percent for solar modules, all of which are made with polysilicon. Many of the largest global producers of photovoltaic ingots and wafers, solar cells, and solar modules directly source polysilicon from entities believed to use forced labor in its production.

In 2020, solar cells and modules imported from China accounted for over $24 billion. While the U.S. directly imported about 5 percent of its solar cells and modules from China, it is likely that additional solar cells and modules made with polysilicon produced with forced labor enter the U.S. through other countries. Many solar companies operating around the world have suppliers based in China and many are owned by Chinese companies. Over 42 percent of global imports of solar cells and modules come from China.

This research suggests that other downstream products of polysilicon, such as semiconductors, silica-based goods, and solar generators, may be produced with an input produced with forced labor.

There are reports of glove factories forcibly training and employing 1,500 to 2,000 ethnic minority adult workers with the government’s support.  Victim testimonies, news media, and think tanks report that factories, including for gloves, frequently engage in coercive recruitment; limit workers’ freedom of movement and communication; and subject workers to constant surveillance, retribution for religious beliefs, exclusion from community and social life, and isolation.  Further, reports indicate little pay, mandatory Mandarin lessons, ideological indoctrination, and poor living conditions. In some instances, workers have been reported to be subject to torture.  More broadly, according to varied estimates, at least 100,000 to hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities are being subjected to forced labor in China following detention in re-education camps.  In addition to this, poor workers in rural areas may also experience coercion without detention.  Workers are either placed at factories within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the camps are located, or transferred out of Xinjiang to factories in eastern China.

Chinese Translation