List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor

There are reports that children in India are forced to quarry stones. These children work in stone quarries, mines, and crushers under conditions of bonded labor. According to an assessment by the ILO, as many as 500,000 stone quarry workers, including entire families, in Tamil Nadu were bonded laborers. Families receive an advance payment and become bonded for generations to pay off the debt. Some children are used as a guarantee for the loan and are forced to work to pay it off. Some children inherit the debt of their parents and may be bought and sold between contractors. Children of scheduled castes, a socially disadvantaged class in India, and migrant children, are particularly vulnerable. The children live at the worksite and face isolation and restrictions on their movement. Some children are forced to work under threat of financial penalties or physical violence, receive little pay, and are denied wages. 

Hindi translation

ILAB has reason to believe that multiple palm oil products produced in Indonesia are made with an input using child labor and forced labor, specifically palm fruit harvested in Indonesia. These palm oil products include crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, refined palm oil, refined palm kernel oil, and oleochemicals.

Palm Fruit from Indonesia was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2010 for child labor and added in 2020 for forced labor. Indonesia produces most of the world’s palm fruit and palm oil. In 2020, refined palm oil from Indonesia accounted for 55.26 percent of global imports. In 2020, the U.S. obtained about 60 percent of its $1 billion in refined palm oil imports from Indonesia.

This research suggests that further downstream products of palm fruit and palm oil, such as cooking oils, animal feed, bakery items and baked goods, beverages, household and industrial products, personal care and cosmetic products, infant formula, and biofuels, may be produced with an input produced with child labor and forced labor.

Indonesian translation

ILAB has reason to believe that multiple palm oil products produced in Indonesia are made with an input using child labor and forced labor, specifically palm fruit harvested in Indonesia. These palm oil products include crude palm oil, crude palm kernel oil, refined palm oil, refined palm kernel oil, and oleochemicals.

Palm Fruit from Indonesia was added to ILAB’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in 2010 for child labor and added in 2020 for forced labor. Indonesia produces most of the world’s palm fruit and palm oil. In 2020, refined palm oil from Indonesia accounted for 55.26 percent of global imports. In 2020, the U.S. obtained about 60 percent of its $1 billion in refined palm oil imports from Indonesia.

This research suggests that further downstream products of palm fruit and palm oil, such as cooking oils, animal feed, bakery items and baked goods, beverages, household and industrial products, personal care and cosmetic products, infant formula, and biofuels, may be produced with an input produced with child labor and forced labor.