US CBP increases its enforcement of banning goods made with child forced labor
The first picture is taken by the reporter Joerg Boethling. A little girl collects coal from coalfields IN Jharia, Jharkhand, India to make some money for her family. The second picture is taken by the reporter Majid Saeedi. A few Afghan children sort bricks at the Sadat Ltd. Brick factory, where they work from 8 am to 5 pm daily. Their hands are very rough because of this hard work. The 3rd picture is taken by the reporter Michael Dwyer. An immigrant Haitian boy carries rice for planting in the rice paddy in the Dominican Republican. According to the US Department of Labor ( DOL) 2020 report, there is 218 million working child labor ( 5-17 years old) across 154 countries. Among them, 78 million children engaged in hazardous working conditions. What do you feel about it?
Human Trafficking is also a serious issue in the world today. This is known as "Modern Slavery". It is estimated that between 20 million to 40 million in modern slavery worldwide. Quite a big part of human trafficking victims become forced labor somewhere. Assessing the full scope of human trafficking is very difficult because those crime organizations often go undetected.
At least, we can say no to do business with the supplier/ manufacture that uses child labor/ forced labor. As matter of fact, this is required now by CBP. So be aware, put that into your importers' reasonable care checklist! Otherwise, your shipment may face the risk of being seized/ detented by U.S Customs.
This is the list of manufactures/ suppliers being caught by customs. so if you see those suppliers, you might just say no those suppliers because their shipments are seized/ detained by customs.
https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/forced-labor/withhold-release-orders-and-findings
This is the list of goods that produced by child labor/ forced labor
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-products
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods
Importers should be alert to the potential issue of forced labor in their supply chains. Many companies would ask suppliers to certify that there is no child labor/ forced labor in their supply chain. Everything should be documented clearly to ensure there is a clear record of the company's compliance in this area.
This will become one of CBP 2020 focusing targets.