浅野智彦氏経由で知る。
先月末のObserverの記事；
問題はGAPが一方でチャリティをウリにしていることとのgapだろうか。また、2004年に導入された”social audit”のシステムが機能しなかったということか。同じDan McDougall氏による”Child sweatshop shame threatens Gap's ethical image”*1には、使われる児童及び児童を使う側に踏み込んだレポートあり。
Indian 'slave' children found making low-cost clothes destined for GapDan McDougall in New Delhi
Sunday October 28, 2007Observer
Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant.Speaking to The Observer, the children described long hours of unwaged work, as well as threats and beatings.
Gap said it was unaware that clothing intended for the Christmas market had been improperly subcontracted to a sweatshop using child labour. It announced it had withdrawn the garments involved while it investigated breaches of the ethical code imposed by it three years ago.
The discovery of the children working in filthy conditions in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi has renewed concerns about the outsourcing by large retail chains of their garment production to India, recognised by the United Nations as the world's capital for child labour.
According to one estimate, more than 20 per cent of India's economy is dependent on children, the equivalent of 55 million youngsters under 14.
The Observer discovered the children in a filthy sweatshop working on piles of beaded children's blouses marked with serial numbers that Gap admitted corresponded with its own inventory. The company has pledged to convene a meeting of its Indian suppliers as well as withdrawing tens of thousands of the embroidered girl's blouses from the market, before they reach the stores. The hand-stitched tops, which would have been sold for about £20, were destined for shelves in America and Europe in the next seven days in time to be sold to Christmas shoppers.
With endorsements from celebrities including Madonna, Lenny Kravitz and Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker, Gap has become one of the most successful and iconic brands in fashion. Last year the firm embarked on a huge poster and TV campaign surrounding Product Red, a charitable trust for Africa founded by the U2 lead singer Bono.
Despite its charitable activities, Gap has been criticised for outsourcing large contracts to the developing world. In 2004, when it launched its social audit, it admitted that forced labour, child labour, wages below the minimum wage, physical punishment and coercion were among abuses it had found at some factories producing garments for it. It added that it had terminated contracts with 136 suppliers as a consequence.
In the past year Gap has severed contracts with a further 23 suppliers for workplace abuses.
Gap said in a statement from its headquarters in San Francisco: 'We firmly believe that under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments. These allegations are deeply upsetting and we take this situation very seriously. All of our suppliers and their subcontractors are required to guarantee that they will not use child labour to produce garments. In this situation, it's clear one of our vendors violated this agreement and a full investigation is under way.'
Professor Sheotaj Singh, co-founder of the DSV, or Dayanand Shilpa Vidyalaya, a Delhi-based rehabilitation centre and school for rescued child workers, said he believed that as long as cut-price embroidered goods were sold in stores across Britain, America, continental Europe and elsewhere in the West, there would be a problem with unscrupulous subcontractors using children.
'It is obvious what the attraction is here for Western conglomerates,' he told The Observer. 'The key thing India has to offer the global economy is some of the world's cheapest labour, and this is the saddest thing of all the horrors that arise from Delhi's 15,000 inadequately regulated garment factories, some of which are among the worst sweatshops ever to taint the human conscience.
'Consumers in the West should not only be demanding answers from retailers as to how goods are produced but looking deep within themselves at how they spend their money.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,331090351-119093,00.html
以下は、今回のスキャンダルに対するGAP側の対応；
なお、中国における「奴隷労働」「児童労働」ということでは、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060830/1156906962、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060901/1157080299、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060905/1157476195、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20070612/1181616788、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20070615/1181867226で言及した。
Gap plans 'sweatshop free' labels
Observer story prompts clothing giant's pledgeDan McDougall
Sunday November 4, 2007Observer
In what would be the biggest commitment to ending child labour ever undertaken by a major retailer, Gap Inc is drawing up plans to label its products 'Sweatshop Free'.
The ambitious pledge, which would place the firm at the forefront of the battle to end sweatshops, comes in response to an undercover Observer investigation which last week exposed one of the firm's Indian suppliers employing children as young as 10 to make garments.Yesterday, Gap's senior vice president, Stanley Raggio, flew from San Francisco to New Delhi to meet the anti-sweatshop charity the Global March Against Child Labour, to hammer out proposals to tackle child labour.
According to Bhuwan Ribhu, a lawyer from the charity, the US conglomerate set out a series of ambitious proposals including a move that would see it relabelling its garments to allow the consumer to directly track online exactly where they are made.
The system would closely mirror the highly successful RugMark programme which has largely eradicated child labour in India's carpet industry.
As an organisation operating independently of the carpet industry, RugMark certifies carpets bearing its label are free of illegal child labour. This is accomplished by monitoring looms and factories through surprise and random inspections.
Ribhu said: 'We spoke at length to Gap and they informed us they are looking at a certification system that marks a product with a label "child labour free". This would be a bold step as the firm would leave themselves open to prosecution if children were found making their clothes again. Gap also intimated to me that they are considering using independent monitoring of their suppliers in Asia and this would operate along similar lines to the RugMark programme. The firm is also calling on their competitors to adopt a similarly tough stance.'
He added: 'The Observer's report should act as a wake-up call for the entire industry and the business community at large. The industry should now come together and make a strong commitment against child labour and the trafficking of children for forced labour in their entire chain of supply and sourcing. This should not only be in words but in a clear and concrete plan of action.'
Speaking from San Francisco, Gap spokesman Bill Chandler confirmed yesterday's meeting between senior Gap executives and the Global March Against Child Labour and told The Observer the firm was laying down the groundwork for a major commitment to fight the problem.
'Gap Inc has had many conversations with experts in the field before and obviously since The Observer investigation,' he said. 'The company is open to new ideas; we have shown that in the last decade. We are open-minded, but at present discussions are ongoing and it is too early to outline the extent of our proposals.
'We genuinely appreciate that The Observer identified this subcontractor [using child labour], and we acted swiftly in this situation. Under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments.'
Marka Hansen, president of Gap North America, said the firm's prohibition of child labour was non-negotiable.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,331157063-119093,00.html
ところで、香港の『東方日報』によると、上海の金山区の村民18名が「研修生」の名目で日本に出稼ぎに行ったところ、「集中営」に入れられ、１日16時間労働を強いられ、さらに日本人雇用者による暴行も受けたとして、仲介業者を起訴したという*2。
