Child Labor Rampant in 96% of Bangladesh’s ‘Shadow’ Leather Sector

Children as young as seven are working with hazardous chemicals and dangerous machinery for long hours and meager wages, a new study found. — A Bangladeshi boy pins strips of leather to dry at a tannery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. In a report released Tuesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch says tannery workers in Bangladesh's capital are being exposed to serious health risks because of hazardous chemicals and are in danger of accidents due to tannery machinery. Bangladesh annually exports millions of dollars of leather goods to some 70 countries, including the U.S. and Japan.

CREDIT: AP Photo/A.M. Ahad

Bangladesh’s lucrative leather industry has a major child labor problem, a new study has found. Despite assertions by the labor ministry to the contrary, children as young as seven are working with hazardous chemicals and dangerous machinery for long hours and meager wages, according to the Institute of Development Studies’ Child Labour: Action-Research Innovation in…

This content is for Annual and Limited members only. You can read up to five free articles each month with a Limited Level Subscription. Please log in, or subscribe.

Log In Subscribe