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Child Labour Remediation - Turkey
Whilst conducting an ethical assessment on a clothing factory in Turkey in 2006, Impactt found 6 children working.Aged 11 to 13, the children were working the same hours as the adults, sometimes up to 13 hours a day, for slightly less pay. Impactt responded immediately to the needs of these workers, and in the first instance interviewed the children and their parents at home to understand what had led to the children working at the factory. We then devised a plan to respond to their needs.
The Situation and the Challenges
- The children were aged between 11 and 13, most were Turkish, but several were from Azerbaijan. All had a parent, or a brother or sister working at the factory.
- Many of the parents said they felt they had to take their children into work with them, not wanting to leave them unsupervised at home. Several of the families were immigrants from Azerbaijan and had no extended family or other options for childcare.
- The children could not be sent to the Turkish state schools because they were either too far behind in their work or because they were from Azerbaijan and could not speak Turkish.
- All the children were working out of necessity in order to support their families. Several of the parents were unable to work themselves and so relied on income from the other members of the family.
- Both the parents and the children themselves wanted to continue their education, but needed to balance financial concerns with the benefits of education.
- In order to ensure that children remained in school and did not go back to work elsewhere, it was vital that a living subsidy was paid to the families, a figure equivalent to the wage that the children were earning at the factory.
Impactt’s Approach
The children’s education level and needs were assessed to understand the type and level of education they required and Impactt worked with the client to determine on the best approach. The factory was asked to sign an ethical commitment pledging that they would not hire any underage workers in future and would pay replacement ‘wages’ to all the children who had been working at the factory until they reached working age.In terms of the schooling it was decided that a classroom would be set up in Istanbul with three teachers focussing on a variety of subjects. The retailer and supplier agreed to share the costs of the children’s education and their local sourcing office took over the supervision of the remediation.Furthermore, Impactt assisted the factory in setting up an age verification system for both existing workers and all new hires, and helped the client’s local sourcing office to improve their factory monitoring systems and remediation systems.
Outcome
- The school now provides full-time education, five days a week, for the children. They continue to be paid the same monthly wage from the factory so that they can contribute to their families’ income whilst investing in their future earnings by receiving a proper education.
- Impactt continue to provide support and trouble-shooting, working with the client, the local sourcing office and experienced local partners.