Swedish company Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M), has come in the eyes of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for contracting with factories that allegedly violated child-labour laws in Myanmar. The other companies that have broken the law are Primark, Gap and Adidas which also source from Myanmar.
A book being published in Sweden next week describes how two factories in Myanmar had workers as young as 14 working more than 12 hours a day making clothes. H&M was one of their clients. In developing countries such as Myanmar, international conventions on child labour developed by the ILO allow children to start working at the age of 14 but that length of work hours violates both the conventions and Myanmar’s own laws.
What is bugging the ILO is that children work for long hours (especially overtime) or night shifts though it is not permissible. Interestingly, Myanmar happens to be one of the few countries that has not signed the convention laws including Bangladesh, India and the US. H&M said it has demanded an action plan, including improved recruitment routines for handling ID cards from the factories where these conditions have reportedly existed since 2013.
