Refugee children making clothes for major UK retailers

  • Written by Laura Wheatley
  • Published on 24 October 2016
  • Blogs

A BBC Panorama report has uncovered Syrian refugees being exploited in the garment industry.

In a Panorama report, due to air tonight, the BBC have uncovered the exploitation of refugee adults and children amongst garment supply chains. The report investigates a number of factories in Turkey where Syrian refugees have been found to be working illegally, with many under 16 years old. The named retailers include Marks and Spencer, ASOS, Next, Zara and Mango.

The wages attained by these refugees are well below Turkish minimum wage – little over a pound an hour. Refugees described the poor conditions and long hours that they are forced to endure in order to survive.

When questioned, M&S advised that it had found no refugee children working within its supply chain (Source: IBT). This raises the question – why are they unable to find these occurrences when the BBC can? As one refugee explained to the BBC, when audits take place the illegal workers are hidden out of sight, only to return once the auditors have gone (Source: BBC).

It is easy to criticise retailers for the issues raised in this Panorama report. No retailer wants unethical practices in their supply chain, ASOS & Mango confirmed that despite their clothes being made in one of these factories, that factory was not approved by them. This highlights broader supply chain visibility issues within large retailers. Much of this issue is easily resolved with the use of real-time visibility into their supply chains and making a commitment to going “beyond the audit”.

A number of the companies mentioned are already working with Segura and, with our help, are dedicated to taking huge steps in their ethical strategies. We recently investigated the efforts that Marks and Spencer are putting into creating a more ethical organisation (Segura). It is clear that despite the hugely positive changes being made, there is still work to be done. It is also important to note that driving unethical practices out of large international supply chains is a journey, and not something that will be solved overnight.

Segura are will continue to work with retailers to help eliminate slavery and exploitation from their supply chains by providing unique supply chain transparency capabilities. Our system allows the real-time review of exactly which factories manufacture each component of every product, every time. By ensuring that manufacturers only order components from retailer approved suppliers, and only subcontract to approved factories, we can avoid situations like these, as uncovered by the BBC.

In addition, Segura is now looking at ways to improve collaboration between all retailers to spot potential issues as quickly as possible.

Contact Segura to learn more.

Don’t miss Undercover: The Refugees Who Make Our Clothes tonight at 20.30 on BBC One.

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