Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present today.
The Ethical Trading Initiative is a leading multi-stakeholder initiative that includes companies, trade unions, and NGOs tackling labour rights in global supply chains. Its 90 corporate members include major brands and retailers from all over the world with a combined turnover of over 180 billion pounds U.K. sterling, and our trade union members represent 200 million workers in 163 countries.
We have around 17 large and small civil society organizations, and the premise on which ETI operates is that collaborative engagement in tackling complex problems of labour rights and labour abuse in global supply chains is really the most effective and sustainable way forward.
In relation to the themes that you are addressing in your study, I will speak to all of them briefly.
In relation to theme one on the global overview, just this year ETI produced and launched at our House of Commons two guides for companies on tackling child labour as well as forced labour in their operations in global supply chains. They address the drivers as well as the human rights due diligence steps that companies ought to take to address the worst forms of child labour and ensure appropriate oversight where children are working legally.
You no doubt will have had more information about the global picture, but I wanted to highlight a few issues in your study.
Most of the world's child workers are in Asia, particularly South Asia. They work largely in the agricultural sector, but child labour is most common amongst girls in domestic work. That is not surprising, because of gender discrimination.
Boys and girls in child labour are often from the poorest families and come from communities that are subject to discrimination on the basis of their caste, race, ethnicity, or religious minorities. They are often poorly educated and in low-skilled and low-paid jobs, and some are subject to hazardous work that is illegal in almost all countries, although it does persist. Child labour is largely hidden and unlikely to be identified by companies in their audits and also by labour inspectors in their labour monitoring systems.
We believe there is a direct relationship—and the evidence shows that there's a direct relationship—between child labour and the working conditions of adults, as well as a lack of social protection. Where adults are paid such poor wages that they cannot support their families, people are locked out of education, health care, and other opportunities and benefits, and children are far more susceptible to abuse and exploitation.
As such, we would argue that the Canadian government should consider legislation that focuses not only on child labour but also on all forms of forced labour that include adults. The Canadian government's welcome focus on gender also offers a particular opportunity to highlight the specific vulnerabilities that girls and women face in forced and child labour.
In theme two, you've asked about case studies and the use of child labour in textile and garment production in South Asia and the seafood and fishing industry in Southeast Asia. ETI has been working in both. I'll set out briefly what we have been doing in these areas and how we see the issues.
The cotton-spinning sector is the backbone of the Tamil Nadu textile sector. It accounts for over 65% of the total number of spinning mills in India and employs around a half a million workers.
Mainly young women aged 16 to 21 are employed as so-called apprentices. Workers often receive no formal contract. About half stay in company-run hostels. Their movement is restricted. There is widespread non-payment of minimum wages. Bear in mind that a minimum wage for textile apprentices is 330 Indian rupees per day. That's six Canadian cents a day. This Sumangali scheme is a scheme where workers are given a lump sum payment after three years of work. It is less prevalent than it was, but it does remain in some rural areas and in some centres.
The working conditions remain poor in these sectors, with long working hours, exposure to cotton dust, limited opportunities for women to be promoted into supervisory positions, widespread allegations of sexual harassment and abuse, a limited ability for unions to operate, and a lack of effective grievance mechanisms.
What is ETI doing? We have been working in this area for some time and recognize the endemic cultural social norms on top of what is a highly exploitative supply chain. We believe that women workers themselves need to be agents of their own change, so we are focused on empowering them through training and through engaging with their supervisors, managers, and spinning mill owners to address the lack of dialogue and engagement, very poor wages, and working conditions.
We've been very pleased with our work and have also engaged with the local authorities to improve the regulatory environment. We have done an evaluation recognizing that we have reached around 16,000 workers, but there is still a very long way to go. The apprenticeship law has been abolished in theory, but we have yet to see its implementation in practice.
To turn to Southeast Asia and the seafood sector, you will know well that exploitation and abuse have been taking place in this sector for some time. That has been fairly well documented. There are many actors engaged now and there is some progress being made, but the progress is slow, for a number of reasons.
The scale of the problem is enormous and many of the companies that are most problematic are not the big brands and retailers, but local Thai industry. The authorities are weak. Legislative change is weak. Political will and action are limited. Problem-solving is weak. Also, migrants are facing discriminatory legislation, which means that many of them choose to migrate illegally and work illegally, putting them at greater risk of exploitation and abuse.
There is limited space for democratic civil society organizations and challenge. There are gross corporate abuse and neglect, as well as criminal trafficking activities, which is hard to eliminate.
There is a lack of ethical recruitment agencies. The worst exploitation is to be found in deep-sea paired trawlers that are far from land, some of them 24-7 operations that don't dock, even at port. Transshipment means that they never have to return for inspections. Vessel owners are very powerful and often corrupt and absent.
In our view, there are many new international initiatives that are not joined up, and they are not necessarily addressing root causes or long-term solutions. The EU yellow card and the U.S. TIP reports help to keep the Thai government and business focused, but progress is slow, and we recognize that there are many different angles to work on simultaneously.