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.

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.

There are reports that adults, predominantly men, are forced to work in the fishing industry in Indonesia. Forced labor often occurs on fishing vessels operating in Indonesian territorial waters, especially around the remote island ports of Benjina and Ambon. The majority of exploited fishermen are Cambodian, Lao, and Burmese nationals. Since March 2015, the International Organization for Migration, in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, has identified approximately 1,500 new labor trafficking cases in the Indonesian fishing industry, with media sources reporting the rescue of more than 2,000 trafficked fishermen during 2015. Victims report being coerced or tricked in their home countries into working on Thai fishing vessels by brokers who promise jobs in other sectors, and then being held in forced labor for up to 10 years. Often fishermen are locked in cells to prevent their escape. Some men have been forced to fish for 20 to 22 hours a day, with little or no pay, and have been subjected to threats and severe physical abuse while at sea. 

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.

There are reports that adult workers are forced to work in the production of palm oil in Indonesia.  The palm oil industry is labor-intensive and employs between 3.7 million and 8 million workers.  According to local media and NGO reports, thousands of individuals have been subjected to forced labor in the production of palm oil.  Many of the workers on palm oil plantations are internal migrants within Indonesia, some of whom had to pay high recruitment fees leading to debt.  It is widely reported that palm oil harvesters’ daily targets, which are set by companies, are unachievable within a 7-hour workday, compelling workers to work several hours beyond what the law permits without overtime pay because they fear steep deductions in wages if they do not meet their targets.  Individuals work in remote, isolated plantations with limited freedom of movement and communication.  Victims and local NGOs report that some workers who live on the plantation experience degrading living conditions, with no access to clean water or latrines.  Some workers who work with hazardous pesticides and fertilizers are not provided with personal protective equipment, and they experience health problems and increased risks of injury from exposure to dangerous chemicals.

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.

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.

There are reports that children ages 5 to 17 work in tin mining in Indonesia. Child labor in this sector is concentrated in the tin-producing islands of Bangka-Belitung province, in ASM. According to a 2014 ILO sectoral survey on child labor in informal tin mining, published in 2015, an estimated 6,300 children are engaged in child labor in tin mining. Children work at dangerous heights and in deep, slippery pits where there are high risks of landslides and injuries. Children’s tasks include operating pressurized-water machinery to separate tin from other materials, digging in the earth to find tin deposits, and panning for tin in bodies of water where children are exposed to extreme weather conditions and are at risk of drowning. 

There are multiple reports that adults are forced to work in the production of nickel in Indonesia. Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves, with approximately 23.7% of the world’s known deposits. Large industrial parks are built as part of the Government of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to process nickel ore in Central and Southeast Sulawesi. Chinese companies have a majority ownership of these parks. The industrial parks employ an estimated 6,000 Chinese migrant workers in various capacities. According to NGO reports, workers are often deceptively recruited in China. After they arrive in Indonesia, many workers receive a lower wage than promised along with longer work hours. Workers regularly have passports confiscated by employers and experience arbitrary deduction of wages, as well as physical and verbal violence as means of punishment. Other indicators of forced labor in the parks include restriction of movement, isolation, constant surveillance, and forced overtime; all of which are reportedly common practices in the production of nickel in the industrial parks.