About 1,200 Canadian companies are selling products that involves some aspect of production involving child labour, a new report said.

“From tomatoes to textiles, almost anything that Canadians consume and use daily could be linked to child and forced labour. Today’s products come to you as a courtesy of a string of contractors and subcontractors, each with different employment standards. Child and forced labour aren’t just international issues they are Canadian issues that need to be fought right here at home,” said Cheryl Hotchkiss, manager of World Vision’s No Child for Sale campaign.

By tracking supply chains of goods that come into Canada, World Vision identified 1,264 companies that may be part of the problem.

Furthermore, it examines how transparent companies are being about their efforts to reduce the chances that children are toiling in fields, factories and fishing boats to produce their goods. It demands greater transparency from companies to publicly report these efforts.

Of the sample of Canadian companies that were shown to be importing high-risk goods, more than half have not publicly reported their efforts to reduce the risk of child or forced labour in their supply chains.

Canada’s food industry was found to be the least transparent about their supply chains despite that the agricultural sector has the highest rates of child labour with 60 per cent of all child labourers working in jobs like farming and fishing.

Mid-size and private companies are particularly lacking in reporting and transparency.

Canadian imports of 50 high-risk products are worth nearly $35 billion, roughly equivalent to the GDP of Newfoundland and Labrador.

“Given that last year Canada imported $34.3 billion goods that were at a high risk of being made by child or forced labour, no company can afford to turn a blind eye. Consumers, investors and business partners need to see Canadian supply chain legislation put in place that would require companies to publicly report on what they are doing to address child and forced labour in their supply chains,” said Simon Lewchuk, World Vision’s Senior Policy Advisor for Sustainable Economic Development.

Today an estimated 85 million of the world’s children suffer in jobs that are dirty, dangerous and degrading, while another 21 million people are coerced or trapped in risky jobs, producing goods that may be imported and sold in Canada.

India is among the countries that stand out when it comes to exploitation of child labour.

According to India’s 2011 Census, out of 8.2 million child labourers under the age of 14 years, over two million are very young children between 5 and 9 years.

Millions of children have no access to basic food, shelter, education, medical care or security.

Bhagyashri Dengle, Executive Director of Plan India, says that “As part of our vision for 2020, Plan India is committed to improving the lives of 2 million children and youth, through direct programme interventions and by working in close collaboration with the Government and other partners to ensure that no child is left behind.”

Among those hoping to make a change in India, is Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor who is fronting a new campaign that will focus much needed attention on child labour in India.

The actor, who is the Goodwill Ambassador for child rights organisation Plan India, will campaign for the NGO’s new initiative to raise awareness and inspire action to pull millions of children out of all forms of labour, said a statement.

“Every morning over 8 million children in India go to work instead of going to school. Our economic progress loses a lot of meaning if hundreds of thousands of children have no hopes of a future,” Anil shared while addressing the media, to mark the International Day Against Child Labour, which is commemorated on June 12.

The actor also announced that a National Conference on Children in Difficult Circumstances will be held in New Delhi in November 2016.

The Conference will be the first ever gathering on the issue where child rights organisations, development practitioners, researchers and policy makers from across India and the world will exchange ideas and best practices in tackling the root causes of inequality and injustice faced by children.

The Indian Express in a special series on child labour in India said millions of India’s children live and work in slave labour conditions — bonded labour, sex trafficking, child labour, domestic ‘help’ servitude and many other forms.

According to the latest official public figures it quoted showed at  least 14 million children living under slavery. If one did a more honest counting and reporting, this number would surely jump to twice that – perhaps closer to 30 million, the paper said,

The basic domestic laws outlawing children working in hazardous occupations and even as domestic help or in roadside establishments have been on the books for many years. But according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) millions of children continue to be employed as domestic labour including over a hundred thousand of them in capital of New Delhi itself.

Over 12 million children between the ages of five and 14 continue to work in dangerous occupations such as construction, manufacturing of beedis, bangles and fireworks.

India tops the list when it comes to the number of children still living and working in bonded labour and slave conditions. China is a distant second with a much better record than India. China and all other countries – with the exception of six including India – have signed the convention. India, as one of the six non-signatories, is in the company of the following ‘world players’: Cook Islands, Eritrea, Marshall Islands, Palau,Tuvalu.

It is a matter national shame that India hasn’t been able to better deal with the scourge of not just child labour, the paper said.

“Many middle class as well as rich Indians utilise child labour when it is illegal, immoral and unconscionable. Don’t tell me they are doing a favour to the destitute who will starve without this slave labour. They must stop the inhuman, bonded and slave child labour and instead employ the parents and guardians of these helpless children, pay them decent wages for appropriate and regular working hours, overtime pay, statutory holidays and medical benefits. That will free the children to go to school and have decent lives,” the Indian Express said in an opinion piece.

By the numbers

A new report by World Vision Canada says Canadian consumers are largely in the dark about what companies do to prevent child labour in their supply chains. Here are some figures from the report and about child labour worldwide:

52: Percentage of companies in the report that didn't provide any public reporting on their efforts to prevent child labours in their supply chains;

$34.3 billion: Value of imported goods reviewed as part of the World Vision Canada study;

1,264: Companies operating in Canada whose supply chains run through countries with high incidences of child labour;

828: Number of those companies that are headquartered in Canada;

87: Percentage of respondents in a 2015 Ipsos Reid survey, conducted for World Vision Canada, who supported supply chain transparency legislation;

168 million: Estimated number of child labourers worldwide;

85 million: Children worldwide who do hazardous work;

40: Percentage drop between 2000 and 2012 in the number of girls working around the world;

25: Percentage drop between 2000 and 2012 in the number of boys working.

 (Source: World Vision Canada,  International Labour Organization)