Bangladesh's Toxic Tanneries

If you buy leather produced in Bangladesh, odds are it came from the these conditions. There comes a time when everyone has to make the decision as what they will accept and what they cannot accept. Then, they must decide whether they will act or ignore the situation. After you have finished viewing the videos and reading the blog, it is my sincere wish that each reader will refuse to buy Bangladeshi leather particularly Hazaribagh leather. Then, if the spirit is moved, letter, emails or phone calls to local leather shops letting them know that if they sell Bangladeshi leather, you will take your business elsewhere.

To contact the Bangladeshi government:
Prime Minister's Office
Old Sangsad Bhaban
Address: Tejgaon, Dhaka-1215
Bangladesh
E-mail: info@pmo.gov.bd (link is on right-hand side of page)

A new report from Human Rights Watch exposes the horrific environmental, health, and social conditions under which 90% of Bangladesh's leather is produced, in the Hazaribagh area of the nation's capital Dhaka.

You can watch the short video above to get the gist of the situation — which involves child labor, the government admitting it doesn't enforce the laws that are on the books, and pretty horribly working conditions all around — but here are some of the deeper details of the report:

Leather produced in Hazaribagh goes to 70 countries, but most of it ends up in China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and the US. For the past ten years Bangladesh's leather industry has grown by $41 million per year, with $663 million worth of leather produced in 2011-2012.

As far as the environmental impact goes, the report summary says:

The wastewater that pours off tannery floors and into Hazaribagh’s open gutters and eventually Dhaka’s main river contains, among other substances, animal flesh, sulfuric acid, chromium, and lead. The government estimates that about 21,000 cubic meters of untreated effluent is released each day in Hazaribagh. Government officials and tannery industry representatives told Human Rights Watch that no Hazaribagh tannery has an effluent treatment plant to treat its waste, which can have many thousands of times the legally permitted concentrations of pollutants.

And the child labor/poor working conditions aspect:

Human Rights Watch interviewed children, some as young as 11, working in tanneries. They were engaged in hazardous work, such as soaking hides in chemicals, cutting tanned hides with razorblades, and operating dangerous tanning machinery. Women and girls said that they are paid comparatively less than men and that, in addition to their own work, they must also perform tasks normally performed by men.

Read the full report: Toxic Tanneries: The Health Repercussions of Bangladesh's Hazaribagh Leather

And, of course, all of this is after the fact that the animals raised for leather probably had horrendous living conditions as well...

A brilliant video produced by a tourist to the country; and, what he sees in the tannery district.

US Department of Labour Releases List of Goods Produced By Child Labour

The US Department of Labour has released a report dealing with items produced with child and/or forced labour. The report is a whopping 194 pages; and, you can access it by clicking here.

Included in this report is a very lengthy list of the countries that use child and/or forced labour and which goods are produced this way. If you are concerned about spending your dollar in a morally responsible way, take a look at the list and make your choices accordingly.

No More Egyptian Cotton For Me!!

I am ashamed to say that is one story I was unaware of until just yesterday. I sleep on Egyptian cotton sheets and have for a long time. They are the height of luxury in my mind and in many others' minds as well. No longer!! There will no longer be any Egyptian cotton bought in my home. I will not sleep on the backs of children.

Zawyat al-Kardsha: A cotton farming family headed by Shaban Abdal Zaher, (third from left). His children work in the family fields. He made £50 from his cotton last year. Photo courtesy Robin Hammond.

This is the decrepit mud and brick home that Shaban Abdulal Zarhel and his family call home. Most of us would call it a hovel. This family is representative of Egyptian cotton farmers. The mother is fussing with the youngest. She is pregnant and they are hoping for another boy. Beside her, her four other children sleep off their exhaustion from their morning labours and try to recharge their tiny bodies with enough energy for the afternoon’s trials. By 2:00 pm (after the hottest part of the day has passed), the children will have arisen and had a tiny meal of rice and flatbread. After that, it’s back to the cotton fields for the afternoon shift. Due to the intense heat - 40°C (104°F) – the children work split shifts working the cooler morning and evening times.

The children’s lives revolve around the cycles of the harvests here: radishes in winter, onions in spring, and Egyptian cotton in summer and fall. There is no time for school. Between working their family’s own small landholding and hiring out to other landholders to earn disposable income, there is little time left for anything else.

When it is cotton season the fields on the banks of the Nile will be filled with children working up to 10 hours a day. They are usually employed to remove the boll weevils from the cotton plants. This means they are constantly handling plants that are awash with pesticides. Most of the children complain of breathing difficulties during the height of summer.

Today, there are an estimated 2.7 m children working across Egypt, the majority in agriculture. More than 1 m children are hired yearly for the cotton harvest with nearly all children reporting beatings by foremen in the fields.

Most Non-government organizations (NGOs) say that erasing child labour in Egyptian agriculture will be impossible as it is traditionally an issue between families; it appears more likely the children are victims of modern-day press gangs who pay their impoverished parents a pittance for their labour.

Egyptian cotton has become a byword for luxury with no five-star hotel in London or Manhattan complete without starched sheets from the Nile Valley on its beds. In Britain alone, the cotton business, from sheets to Savile Row clothing, is worth billions.

Cotton has a long and not-so-illustrious history. It may have existed in Egypt as early as 12,000 BC. It has successfully been cultivated in the Nile Delta for at least 7,000 years due to rich soil and a perfect climate. It was brought to Europe by Arab merchants about 800 AD. In 1492 when Columbus found America, he also found cotton growing in the Bahamas. Cotton found its way to England two centuries later.

While everyone is aware of the inhumane history of cotton, slavery and the Americas; not many people (I was one of them) are aware of the inhumane history of cotton, near slavery and Egypt.

Mohammed Ramadan, eight, with one of the worms children are employed to pick off cotton leaves. Photo courtesy of Robin Hammond.

It's cotton season and children are everywhere, on hands and knees, searching for the tiny insects and worms that threaten the crop. Their job is to remove them.

Ahmed Khaled, 10, begins his day at 6:00 am harvesting onions before moving into the cotton fields at 8:00 am. He says, “We work up to eight hours a day. This is the hardest time, keeping the cotton safe when the sun is at its hottest. The harvest is easier – the hours are hard; but, the weather is cooler. I cannot read or write. We go to school when we can; but, we cannot afford to. School is for rich children.”

Huge, huge issue. More next blog.

Women and Children Mining In India

(Photo: Women make up a majority of the menial labour force in the mining industry CSE)

Despite the grinding poverty found in many parts of India, there is a massive fortune hidden in the ground. Iron, bauxite, gold, lead, zinc, manganese, coal and copper are some of the dozens of minerals found in almost half of the landmass. Despite the fact that an Indian environmental non-profit points out that most of these valuable resources lie in areas that are either ecologically precarious or heavily populated with indigenous peoples, there has been recent heavy foreign investment into its thriving mining sector. One of the greatest causes for concern surrounding the mining sector is the government’s dismal record of neglect for its tribal communities.

The sixth State of India’s Environment Report was released by New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) titled “Rich Land, Poor People – Is Sustainable Mining Possible?” This report challenges the industry and government’s stance that mining is good for growth and creates jobs. This report presents the state-by-state impacts of mining, highlighting the vast array of socio-environmental issues that India is facing due to lack of regulation and sound policy in its mining industry

The report tackles head-on the recommendations for the national mining policy made earlier this year. The CSE report asserts that the government’s proposal which mentions applying a “sustainable framework” for future mining activities forecasts a further boost in foreign investment and promises the introduction of cutting-edge technology does not reflect reality.

"Based on unrealistic assumptions, the policy fails to take into consideration the social and environmental problems happening due to mining. It is bound to promote large-scale exploitative mining; and will, therefore, exacerbate conflict,’’ says Sunita Narain, director of CSE.

Most of the mineral concentrations are in areas of the south, central and northeastern states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand, areas that are home to a majority of India’s 90 million tribal peoples. More than three quarters of the 2.6 million people displaced by mining from 1950 to 1991 have yet to be rehabilitated.

The Indian mining policy was liberalized in 2000 followed by a decision in 2006 to allow 100% direct investment by international companies. This was the beginning of widespread problems as firms with questionable human rights and environmental reputations – such as De Beers (diamond cartel), Broken Hill Property Co. (gold) and Rio Tinto – were able to acquire significant prospecting rights in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

Despite all the apparent growth in the mining sector, the boom has only boosted national GDP (gross domestic product) a meager 2.5 percent, with government revenues much lower than expected.

So why is there this discrepancy? According to the report, it is because of the proliferation of small, illegal mines, which are defined as being less than 5 hectares in size and do not require Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). According to the Indian Bureau of Mines, small-scale mines (SSMs) are also manual, open-cast mines that do not use explosives and employ less than 25.

Yet illegal SSMs account for a large part of the mining industry’s “informal sector”. While no official records exist on any of them, it is estimated they make up approximately 11% of the total revenues from mining, could possibly number in the hundreds of thousands and employ anywhere from half a million to 12 million people.

“Small scale mining is a massive employer, is highly productive and profitable. But it’s also polluting, unsafe, disruptive; and, in many cases, outside regulatory regimes,” notes the CSE website.

Besides being a threat to the environment, illegal and unsafe; they are a huge threat to the safety of the workers. The owners of the mines are not hindered by regulations or safety standards as they operate outside the parameters of the law. Since they operate outside the parameters of the law, there is nothing to hinder the extent to which they can carry their corruption. Workers are paid meager wages and often must pay for their own food; fuel and water; and are abandoned if injured.

Typically, it is the most vulnerable groups of society who work in these mines: landless migrants, sometimes entire families. Women do a majority of menial jobs in the mines, while child labor is common and well-documented.

To address the problem, CSE suggests clustering mines in order to regulate them. Worker cooperatives could also be one way to manage mines, allowing better working and living conditions, especially if less people are employed per mine. The pay in such cooperatives is much higher, there is job security, and profits are used for schools and health facilities.

Another necessary measure would to be modify India’s Air and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Acts, which only permit pollution control agencies to monitor only ‘point’ (i.e. final) sources of pollution, which avoids most of the contamination caused by mining.

Narain said her group is seeking to “create a dialogue” between the various stakeholders of mining in India. “Our idea is not to polarize the discussion, but to integrate industry into it,” she said.