5 Companies That Still Use Slave Labor (2024)

FAQs

What stores use slave labor? ›

Brands listed by the report include: Apple, ASUS, Victoria's Secret, Vivo, Puma, Jack & Jones, Sharp, Siemens, Volkswagen, Sony, Polo Ralph Lauren, GAP, Amazon, Abercrombie & Fitch, BMW, Huawei, Nike, Sketchers and more.

United States. In the antebellum southern United States, industrial slaves were often the property of a company instead of an individual. These companies spanned various industries including sawmills, cotton gins and mills, fishing, steamboats, sugar refineries, coal and gold mining, and railroads.

As of 2018, the countries with the most slaves were: India (8 million), China (3.86 million), Pakistan (3.19 million), North Korea (2.64 million), Nigeria (1.39 million), Indonesia (1.22 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1 million), Russia (794,000) and the Philippines (784,000).

Apple's Prevention of Modern Slavery Standards state, “Supplier shall not traffic persons or use any form of slave, forced, bonded, indentured, or prison labor." In 2012, we extended the application of our Code and Standards to our services suppliers, including AppleCare contact centers, logistics, and repair centers.

Nike says the factory has stopped using forced labor. So how credible are the sneaker company's assurances? The South Korean-owned Taekwang factory is one of Nike's largest suppliers, producing 8 million pairs of Nike footwear a year—including signature lines such as Air Max and Shox.

PepsiCo prohibits the use of all forms of forced labor, including involuntary prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor, military labor, slave labor, and any form of human trafficking.

We take a zero-tolerance approach to both forced labor and child labor. All suppliers working for us must sign and comply with our strict anti-forced-labor and anti-child-labor policies. In 2020, we identified 0 cases of child labor.

KitKats—those snappy, chocolate-covered wafers—have been made with cocoa harvested by child laborers for years. But now the candy bar's parent company, Nestlé, is vowing to make some serious changes. In a statement released Monday, the brand announced it will use solely sustainably sourced cocoa by early next year.

According to the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, the majority of forced labor cases came from the following sectors: domestic work (24 percent), construction (18 percent), manufacturing (15 percent), and agriculture (11 percent).

The consumer sector is highly vulnerable to modern slavery as a large proportion of manufacturing is outsourced, often internationally. Particularly high risk goods include: rice, spices, tea, coffee, cocoa and cotton.

What products use child labor? ›

The most common agricultural goods listed are sugarcane, cotton, coffee, tobacco, cattle, rice, and fish. In the manufacturing sector, bricks, garments, textiles, footwear, carpets, and fireworks appear most frequently. In mined or quarried goods, gold, coal and diamonds are most common.

Mass incarceration, and the criminalization of poverty, has created a modern-day abomination—nearly two million incarcerated people in the United States have no protection from legal slavery.

Section I of the Thirteenth Amendment reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Visitors have described the drive up to the Louisiana State Penitentiary as a trip back in time. With men forced to labor in its fields, some still picking cotton, for as little as two cents an hour, the prison was — and is — a plantation.

Samsung has a zero-tolerance policy against 'child'(as defined below) labor as prohibited by international standards and relevant national laws and regulations in all stages of its global operations.

Chinese law prohibits the use of child of labor under age 16 but stipulates that children may be employed under special circ*mstances, such as in sports or in the arts, or if their “occupational training” and “educational labor” does not adversely affect their personal health and safety.

Child labor is a growing concern.

About 7.74 percent of children between the ages of 10-15 are laborers although the legal working age in China is 16.

“Amazon suppliers must not use forced labor — slave, prison, indentured, bonded, or otherwise,” its standards read. “All work must be voluntary, and workers must be free to leave work and terminate their employment or other work status with reasonable notice.”

Our CoC is our highest ethical policy and sets out our zero tolerance approach to practices of forced or involuntary labour, child labour, and human trafficking of any kind within our operations and supply chain.

Puma the company itself doesn't support child labor, either if that's true or just because it's the law or for public imagery, they discourage child labor. While the factories/companies that makes the clothing employs children (anyone under the age of 15) to make the clothing.

Does PepsiCo use palm oil? ›

As of February 2020, PepsiCo is the world's second-largest food and beverage company (after Nestlé). PepsiCo uses palm oil primarily in snack manufacturing in Asia and other markets.

“After years of denial, PepsiCo has admitted to the high risks associated with its palm oil supply chain and business partner. Its partnership with Indofood is marred by years of labor violations and other practices that have produced nothing but Conflict Palm Oil for PepsiCo-branded snack foods.

However, the most surprising fact is that while the Walt Disney Company sells products that are catered towards making children happy, the company actually uses sweatshops and child labor to produce their products in developing countries.

1. Young Labor. Amazon does not tolerate the use of child labor. Suppliers are required to engage workers who are: (i) 15 years old, (ii) the age of completion of compulsory education, or (iii) the minimum age to work in the country where work is performed, whichever is greater.

In the company's report today, Apple says it found no evidence of forced labor or underage child labor.

Yes, Twix are still made with child labor

For years, you've been hearing about how the big chocolate giants — Mars, Hershey, and Nestle — have been sourcing their chocolate from farms that rely on child labor.

By purchasing chocolate which is Fair Trade Certified or is “Bean to Bar,” then the chocolate is generally not made with child labor. These companies, not companies which use child labor, should get our money.

adidas strictly prohibits the use of any form of forced labor or the trafficking in persons across all of our company operations and in our global supply chain.

Almost 50 million people are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery worldwide: 49.6 million people are living in modern slavery (forced labour and forced marriage) on any given day. This is an increase of 10 million since the last Global Estimates in 2017. 1 in 4 are children.

The oldest known slave society was the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilisations located in the Iran/Iraq region between 6000-2000BCE.

Who has the most slaves in history? ›

The country that is most marked by slavery, though, is clearly India. There are an estimated 14 million slaves in India – it would be as if the entire population of Pennsylvania were forced into slavery. The country suffers deeply from all major forms of slavery, according to the report.

Slavery has been linked to the supply chains of many everyday products and commodities, including shoes, electronics, cocoa, and cotton. Nestle, Mars and Hershey all source cocoa from West Africa, where cases of child labour and forced labour have been discovered, and still persist.

Examples of high-risk sectors include: industrial cleaning, meat works, hospitality, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing.

Nestlé's code of conduct prohibits the use of child labour in its supply chain...

Despite its efforts, Nutella cannot guarantee that the hazelnuts it uses are cultivated without the use of child labor because the company is unable to oversee the entirety of the production process.

Federal court dismisses child labor case against major tech companies - JURIST - News. Judge Carl J. Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed claims against prominent technology companies Apple, Google, Tesla, Dell and Microsoft related to child labor.

On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The necessary number of states (three-fourths) ratified it by December 6, 1865.

New Jersey, The Last Northern State to End Slavery.

Louisiana's Constitution explicitly prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, “except in the latter case as punishment for crime.” The proposal, if approved, would have asked voters whether they wanted to do away with that exception.

Can prisoners be slaves? ›

In summary

Like many other states, California forbids slavery but allows involuntary servitude for prisoners.

Slavery, by contrast, was an ancient institution in Russia and effectively was abolished in the 1720s. Serfdom, which began in 1450, evolved into near-slavery in the eighteenth century and was finally abolished in 1906.

Of the U.S.' first twelve presidents, the only two never to own slaves were John Adams, and his son John Quincy Adams; the first of which famously said that the American Revolution would not be complete until all slaves were freed.

Under Mexican rule, slavery was officially outlawed in Texas by 1829. However, special consideration given to Anglo settlers meant that the enslaved population of Texas continued to grow, as enslaved men and women were forced to accompany their enslavers on their journey into Texas.

Legal ownership of people was indeed abolished in all countries over the course of the last two centuries. But in many countries it has not been criminalised. In almost half of the world's countries, there is no criminal law penalising either slavery or the slave trade.

They toiled alongside thousands of captive Native Americans. This was despite the state's constitution, which read: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this state.”

Major electronics brands, including Apple, Samsung and Sony, are failing to do basic checks to ensure that cobalt mined by child labourers has not been used in their products, said Amnesty International and Afrewatch in a report published today.

Given that more than half the world's cobalt comes from the DRC, that one fifth of it is extracted by artisanal (or informal) miners, and that around 40,000 children work in southern DRC where the cobalt is mined, there's a chance that our phones contain child labour.

Of the 255,000 Congolese mining for cobalt, 40,000 are children, some as young as six years. Much of the work is informal small-scale mining in which laborers earn less than $2 per day while using their own tools, primarily their hands.

Children in Russia are found in the worst forms of child labor, including in work on the street and in commercial sexual exploitation. (3-5) Children are engaged in work on the streets in Russia. The Government has recognized children working on the streets as a worst form of child labor in the country.

Does Vietnam allow child labor? ›

Although Vietnamese law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 15, the system has too many loopholes to provide children with the level of protection that they really need. These laws are not aggressively enforced, allowing employers to continue employing child labor without any ramifications.

China said on Monday that it would allow all married couples to have three children, ending a two-child policy that has failed to raise the country's declining birthrates and avert a demographic crisis.

The minimum employment age in China is 16 years. The only exceptions to this are in the fields of literature, special crafts, art and physical culture, where a minor may be employed with approval from the government authorities.

With a monthly salary of less than 2,000 yuan (US$290), against the average of 5,000 yuan (US$725) for adult workers in the city, the underage migrants work at least 28 days a month from 7 a.m. to midnight.

It is prohibited for any institution or individual to provide employment services to minors under the age of 16. Minors under the age of 16 are prohibited from engaging in private business activities.

In manufacturing: bricks, garments, carpets, and footwear. In mined/quarried goods: gold, diamonds and coal.

Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, GAP, H&M, Lacoste, Nike, Puma, PVH (Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger), Ralph Lauren, Uniqlo, VF Corp, L Brands (Victoria's Secret), and Inditex (Zara) are amongst the fashion brands listed as sourcing labour from the factories that the Uyghur people have reportedly been transferred to.

We never allow the use of child or forced labor in any of our operations or facilities or by our vendors or their subcontractors. We never participate in or condone human trafficking or slavery of any kind.

Target does not knowingly buy or sell products that are made, in whole or in part, using forced or underage labor.

Does Samsung use child labor? ›

Samsung has a zero-tolerance policy against 'child'(as defined below) labor as prohibited by international standards and relevant national laws and regulations in all stages of its global operations.

Major chocolate companies like Nestle, Hershey's, and Mars have been called to task time and time again for the use of child labor and slavery in their supply chains. For years, these companies have pledged to eradicate this problem and for years they have come up short on their promises.

However, the most surprising fact is that while the Walt Disney Company sells products that are catered towards making children happy, the company actually uses sweatshops and child labor to produce their products in developing countries.

In the company's report today, Apple says it found no evidence of forced labor or underage child labor.

1. Young Labor. Amazon does not tolerate the use of child labor. Suppliers are required to engage workers who are: (i) 15 years old, (ii) the age of completion of compulsory education, or (iii) the minimum age to work in the country where work is performed, whichever is greater.

Our CoC is our highest ethical policy and sets out our zero tolerance approach to practices of forced or involuntary labour, child labour, and human trafficking of any kind within our operations and supply chain.

Zara used to employ Turkish sweatshops in Istanbul, where workers were forced to work without being paid. Modern slavery and child labor cases involving Zara in Brazilian factories were previously reported. Zara now cares more about its suppliers with higher transparency and worker empowerment initiatives.

All of its clothing is sweatshop-free and child-labour-free, and its activewear range is almost entirely made from certified organic cotton, with more than 50% also certified as Fair Trade.

Kellogg Company prohibits involuntary labor, including forced, indentured, bonded, slave or human-trafficked labor (“Involuntary Labor”), within our business operations and our supply chain.

Historically, there are many different types of slavery including chattel, bonded, forced labour and sexual slavery.

What foods did slaves create? ›

"Dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, pepper pot, the method of cooking greens — Hoppin' John (a dish made with greens and pork)," Kelley Deetz, director of programming at Stratford Hall, told VOA via email.