Human Rights in Supply Chains

“A garment worker sews clothing in a building near the site of the Rana Plaza building collapse” © 2014 G.M.B. Akash/Panos.
A garment worker sews clothing in a building near the site of the Rana Plaza building collapse. © 2014 G.M.B. Akash/Panos
Women in the sewing division of a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Women constitute about 90 percent of the workforce in Cambodia’s garment industry.
Women in the sewing division of a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Women constitute about 90 percent of the workforce in Cambodia’s garment industry. © 2014 Samer Muscati/ Human Rights Watch
Victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse and their families demonstrating at the site of the disaster demanding full compensation.
 Victims of the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse and their families demonstrating at the site of the disaster demanding full compensation.  © 2014 G.M.B. Akash/Panos
Women work in the sewing division of a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital.
Women work in the sewing division of a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Women constitute about 90 percent of the workforce in Cambodia’s garment industry, which produces for many international apparel brands. Human Rights Watch has documented that workers in Cambodia frequently experience forced overtime, pregnancybased discrimination, and denial of paid maternity leave.   © 2014 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch
Ghana is one of the world’s top 10 gold producers.
Ghana is one of the world’s top 10 gold producers. Around one-third of Ghana’s gold is mined in artisanal and smallscale mines, which mostly operate illegally and use child labor. Two boys, 9 and 12 years old, demonstrate their daily work of washing and sluicing gold ore in Homase, Amansie Central district, Ashanti Region.   © 2014 Juliane Kippenberg/Human Rights Watch.
A 13-year-old boy digs for gold ore at a small-scale mine in Mbeya Region, Tanzania.
A 13-year-old boy digs for gold ore at a small-scale mine in Mbeya Region, Tanzania. “I was digging with my colleague,” he said. “I entered into a short pit. When I was digging he told me to come out, and when I was about to come out, the shaft collapsed on me, reaching the level of my chest … they started rescuing me by digging the pit and sent me to Chunya hospital.” The accident knocked the boy unconscious and caused internal injuries. He remained in the hospital for about a week and still occasionally feels pain in his waist when he sits. After the accident, he was scared of returning to the pits, but he felt he had no choice, explaining: “Whenever my aunt travels is when I go, because I need something to sustain myself.” Companies trading in gold have a responsibility to ensure that they do not cause or contribute to child labor.   © 2013 Justin Purefoy/Human Rights Watch
16-year-old tobacco worker
A 16-year-old tobacco worker standing in a tobacco field in North Carolina wearing her work clothes. “I don’t feel any different in the fields than when I was 12,” she said. “I [still] get headaches and … my stomach hurts. And like I feel nauseous…. I just feel like my stomach is like rumbling around. I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”  © 2015 Benedict Evans for Human Rights Watch
Drawn by the promise of jobs, thousands of men from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal are working on Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates.
Drawn by the promise of jobs, thousands of men from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal are working on Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates. © 2010 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch
A boy uses tongs to soak hides in a pit of diluted chemicals in a Hazaribagh leather tannery.
A boy uses tongs to soak hides in a pit of diluted chemicals in a Hazaribagh leather tannery. Even though international law binding on Bangladesh and Bangladesh’s own labor law prohibit employing children under 18 in harmful or hazardous work, many children work in Hazaribagh’s leather tanneries.   © 2012 Arantxa Cedillo/Human Rights Watch
Female farmers resettled to Mwaladzi received land with poor access to water and limited productivity. The compensation package also included a new house.
Female farmers resettled to Mwaladzi received land with poor access to water and limited productivity. The compensation package also included a new house. “The farming land we received is red, not black like we had before. I tried to grow corn and it died. Sorghum also failed…. I am not that satisfied. What I can say is, what is a house without food? I cannot eat my house,” said Maria C. © 2012 Samer Muscati/Human Rights Watch