Bal Harbour, FL
Virtually every country in the world has laws prohibiting child labor exploitation, as does the United States, yet billions of dollars worth of products made by exploiting children are sold to unknowing customers in the United States each year.
The use of child labor deprives children of their health, education, and in many cases their very lives. The countries that rely on, or even permit child labor are not investing in their nationts future. They are propelling the economic race to the bottom in labor standards and worker protections for the world.
The hand-knotted carpet industry, in particular, is rife with insidious forms of child labor, with bonded children as young as five and six years old often enslaved to pay off the debts of their parents. The RUGMARK campaign, which is being sponsored by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, will address the abuses in this industry by expanding consumer awareness and action. It will be a consumer-driven campaign which identifies -- through a special RUGMARK label -- hand-knotted carpets made without child labor.
The AFL-CIO supports the RUGMARK consumer education and purchasing campaign as one way of helping prohibit exploitative child labor.