By Beyza Binnur Donmez
GENEVA (AA) - Child labor cannot be reduced without confronting the global economic systems that enable it, according to a prominent human rights activist.
Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, who has led several initiatives working on child labor, slavery and poverty, urged the world's largest economies to take responsibility for practices embedded in their own markets, ahead of a G20 summit kicking off in South Africa.
"They committed to eliminating child labor and forced labor by 2025 when they adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, yet not a single one of their countries has a real plan to eradicate child labor or forced labor in corporate supply chains," he told Anadolu. "Eliminating all child labor is extremely difficult because it requires ending poverty."
"My demand is that governments finally rein in all corporations and begin serious South–North negotiations to end the neocolonial business and trade models that perpetuate misery in the Global South," he said. "Not one of the world’s top 2,000 corporations can claim to be child-labor-free. Many corporations exploit hundreds of thousands of children in their supply chains to reduce costs and increase profits. This has to stop.”
- Allegations of profit from child labor
Morales-de la Cruz said some of the globe's most influential economies directly benefit from abusive labor conditions through state investments and trade structures. He singled out Norway as an example.
"The state of Norway is the largest investor in the world, with $2,1 trillion in assets under management and shares in 9,000 corporations," he said. "Norway profits from the exploitation of tens of millions of children by investing in hundreds of corporations that use child labor to reduce costs and increase profits."
His criticism follows a recent decision in Oslo, where the Norwegian parliament decided to pause ethical rules for Norges Bank Investment Management. "This means Norway will continue to profit from child labor and forced labor in corporations," he noted.
The EU also benefits from low prices tied to exploitative supply chains.
"Due to exploitative business models that European governments dare to call fairtrade and ethical, the EU is also the main financial beneficiary of misery and child labor in the rural communities that produce coffee, cocoa and many other products," said Morales-de la Cruz.
He urged governments in producing countries to insist on transparency and fair pricing.
"The governments in the Global South must demand fair and transparent farm gate prices, fight to guarantee their workers a real living income and make sure that corporations pay taxes at the origin countries,” he said.
- Corporate claims misleading
Multinational companies promote themselves as ethical actors with zero-tolerance policies, but Morales-de la Cruz said the measures often mask ongoing abuses.
"Most corporations get away with false claims of zero tolerance for child labor and 'ethical sourcing' because most governments, and even many NGOs and journalists, do not dare to defend child workers or modern-day slaves exploited by powerful corporations," he said.
He cited the World Economic Forum (WEF) as an emblem of the disconnect between messaging and reality.
“The World Economic Forum has claimed to be ‘Improving the State of the World’ for 55 years, yet more than 75 million children work in the supply chains of its 2,500 participants and 1,000 corporate members," said Morales-de la Cruz.
He said major global brands rely on misleading narratives and “maintain neocolonial business models built on false advertising and deceptive marketing.”
Morales-de la Cruz said scrutiny should start with conditions on the ground.
"Journalists should investigate the prices and real wages paid at the origin, because that is where the truth about exploitation becomes impossible to hide," he said, urging reporters not to be "neutral to the exploitation of children or to slavery.”
- Fair pricing as pathway to reducing child labor
The activist said sustainable solutions depend on raising the incomes of farmers and workers in low-income countries. Yet he argued that leaders in producer nations have not pressed hard enough for change.
"I have been to Davos during the WEF -- 15 times since 2007, and not once have I seen a group of presidents from the Global South demand that top corporations or the governments of the G7, the EU, Norway, or Switzerland pay fair prices for their agricultural, mineral, or industrial exports," he said.
Coffee, he noted, is among the most striking examples of inequality in global trade.
"Latin America produces nearly 60% of the world's coffee and yet the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico have not united or created an organization of coffee producing nations to complain that the current price of coffee ($4.06) is lower when adjusted for inflation to the price of coffee two centuries ago," said Morales-de la Cruz.
Producers, he added, earn far below what is needed to live as coffee producers receive, on average, "less than 2%, and often only 1%, of what consumers in wealthy countries pay for a cup of coffee." He stressed that they should be compensated with at least $0.10 per cup.
"The current farm-gate price is less than half of what farmers need to live with dignity," he said.
Child labor also extends beyond agricultural goods to commodities such as cobalt and gold.
"The business models of the industries are absolutely cruel. They must be forced by the governments to change," he added.