In reaction to the closed-door proposals, human rights attorney Martina Vandenberg stated that American firms should be “ashamed that their answer to this abuse is to reduce transparency.”
Professor Peter Klein of the University of British Columbia is a prominent watcher of global supply chains. He agrees that restricting access to this information will make it more difficult for the public to monitor a shipping industry that operates mainly in the shadows now.
As part of their plan to “modernize” import/export processes, the business executives who comprise the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) advised safeguarding the privacy of “data obtained from vessel manifests.”
The advisory council concluded that keeping customs data confidential would protect U.S. firms from the “more prevalent, severe, and consequential” crime of data theft.
According to the Associated Press, the committee also suggested regulations requiring CBP to notify importers in advance if it suspected that they had acquired items produced through abusive labor practices. Even though this sounds like a legitimate request, it may put whistleblowers at risk if abusive vendors learn about complaints and investigations.
According to labor advocates, investigating and punishing allegations of maltreatment is already exceedingly challenging. Judges have dismissed high-profile lawsuits with seemingly straightforward cases because the evidence was insufficient. However, according to importers, litigation is quite expensive and sometimes takes years to settle.
Late in September, the U.S. Department of Labor announced additional measures to combat forced and child labor, including the release of reports identifying some of the world’s most problematic regions.
In recent years, domestic and international specialists concur that exploitative work settings have become more prevalent. In addition to the list of 158 products from 77 countries, the most current version of the Labor Department’s list of products polluted by a child or forced labor adds 32 more items.
It would be impossible for journalists to utilize shipping manifests to identify the end destinations of goods produced or harvested using abusive labor practices. It would be a crucial tool for encouraging U.S. firms not to allow forced labor into their supply chains.
This move contradicts CBP’s aim to “increase visibility into global supply chains, support ethical sourcing practices, and level the playing field for domestic U.S. producers.” The public relations departments have also assured customers in the United States of big firms that they are attempting to eradicate forced labor and child labor from their supply chains.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which went into force in June 2022, garnered headlines as a significant piece of anti-labor exploitation legislation. The UFLPA presupposes that all items from China’s Xinjiang province, also known as East Turkistan, are tainted with the labor of Uyghur Muslims and other oppressed minorities and challenges importers to show otherwise.
Xinjiang is hardly the only troubled region on the planet. Child labor exploitation is another problem of concern in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where cobalt is mined for use in rechargeable batteries. Allegedly, many of the 40,000 children who labor in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo dig with their bare hands.
The Brazilian acai berry market is an additional source of grave concern. Acai berries, one of the most popular “superfoods” due to their excellent flavor and high antioxidant content, are picked from palm trees in South America that may reach heights of over 60 feet. Since adults are too heavy to securely get to the tops of these trees, children must use saws to pry the fruit from the branches to collect the berries.
Dark forests are home to venomous snakes, insects, and even more dangerous humans, making this pastime as hazardous as it sounds. Even though the injury rate for tree-climbers is terrible and repeated climbing of the trees might potentially stunt a child’s growth, poor local families are willing to put their children in danger for low profits in a nearly unregulated enterprise to obtain the berries.
Several charges of child labor and harsh exploitation of local workers have been leveled against the gold mining industry in Zimbabwe, mainly dominated by Chinese companies that have been the subject of several complaints. Although it is legally illegal in Zimbabwe, the widespread practice of independent or “artisanal” gold mining, in which very impoverished households send young children to pan for gold along riverbanks, is so ubiquitous that the government is unable to prohibit it.