Gravestones

Today, Wednesday, January 27th, 2021, the state parliament in Baden-Württemberg decided that the municipalities may ban tombstones from child labor. It is now stipulated in the amendment law that this is to be proven by “proven certificates”. This includes XertifiX and other certificates that is “awarded authenticity on generally accessible and recognized platforms after evaluation of the certification process and publication of the results obtained”. The plus seal from XertifiX receives the top grade on such a platform from the federal government (best seal of all natural stone seals).

Please refer: 2021-01-27 BaWü Änderung_Bestattgesetz_Entwurf (German)

The state government has issued a new circular, which stipulates, among other things, that all tombstones imported from India, China, Vietnam or the Philippines after January 1, 2020 require a certificate from XertifiX or another accredited certification body. All tombstones that were introduced into the federal territory before January 1, 2020 are not certified and can be erected without a seal. In this case, however, proof of the time of import must be available.

Siehe: Runderlass

As of January 1, 2020, in North Rhine-Westphalia new tombstones will have a certification requirement if the grave stones come from India, China, Vietnam or the Philippines. This is set by a new circular, which was published on 09 November 2019. So far, XertifiX is the only certifier accredited by the state of NRW.

Please refer (German only): Runderlass

Please refer to the website (German only): Feststellung der Funktionsfähigkeit des Zertifizierungsverfahrens nach § 4a Absatz 1 des Bestattungsgesetzes

We are delighted that XertifiX has been accredited by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (State Chancellery) as the – so far only – certifier for tombstones. Probably, from 01.01.2020 onwards, the presentation of a certificate must be submitted when purchasing a new gravestone from India, China, Vietnam or the Philippines.
Siehe: Minister für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten sowie Internationales

In the context of children’s work on gravestones, claims are repeatedly made that will be examined in more detail below:

Claim 1: There is no child labor at gravestones!

The fact is: Unannounced visits to Indian quarries have shown time and again that children are working on hammer drills. This is documented in photos, including by a photographer who has worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. (siehe: Beitrag)
Dusseldorf University of Applied Sciences also prepared an opinion on this question and stated that grave stones from India, China, Vietnam and the Philippines could be used for child labor. (siehe: Gutachten/News)

Claim 2: Children can not work on natural stones in quarries, because they are too heavy!

The fact is: If the natural stones (rough blocks in quarries) are too heavy for children, then of course they are also for the adults. Clever: It is not assumed by child labor experts that the children would have to lift inhospitable natural stones while working in quarries. But by contradicting such a (fictional) assumption, one makes use of the simple rhethoric gimmick: first put a false claim into space, then vehemently contradict it – and thus allegedly reduce the total assumption of child labor in Indian quarries to absurdity. But as I said, this is just a rhethoric gimmick that needs to be debunked.

Claim 3: The quarries in India, where raw materials for gravestones are mined, are highly industrialized, so that no children could work there. The machines used in these quarries are all too complicated to be used by children.

The fact is: It is true that there are also highly industrialized quarries in India – in which you can not come in without an invitation but not unannounced (Very few outsiders will probably know how actually they work there!). But it is also true that there are numerous quarries in Southern India that are working “conservatively”: with holes that either fill explosive charges or are needed for diamond saws. These holes are, however, set with jackhammers – and it is precisely on such machines that child laborers (as defined by the ILO Convention 182) have been found again and again. That’s the key point.

Claim 4: It can not be guaranteed at all that the tombstones can be traced back to the quarry. A stonemason can not control every supply chain and make sure that no children have worked there.

The fact is: The stonemason does not even have to check that himself. There are external “service providers” who specialize in this.

XertifiX, for example, has been controlling natural stone supply chains for many years and issuing the natural stone seals when the supply chain can be traced back to the quarry and the certification requirements at the production sites are met. With other words, if tombstones were certified with the XertifiX seal, then the quarry was also checked unannounced and by this ensured, among other things, that (with very high probability) there are no children working there. This is important to know for relatives, traders and stonemasons, cemetery administrations and politicians changing cemetery legislation.

So if in the future you meet someone who claims that Indian gravestones can not do child labor at all, then you can answer with a clear conscience that this is just rubbish.

This does not mean that Indian tombstones are always produced with child labor. That would be just nonsense (and no one will claim seriously)! But that means very well, that one should always make sure that the tombstones are not made with child labor by regular and reliable (!), unannounced (!) checks at Indian tombstones.

On August 22, 2018, the Hesse Landtag passed the new funeral ordinance. One important change: Municipalities may in future ban tombstones made with exploitative child labor from the cemeteries. The new ordinance allows municipalities to ask for a complete documentation or equivalent certificates as proof of production without exploitative child labor.
Please refer:
TASPO: “Neues Friedhofs- und Bestattungsgesetz in Hessen”

For years, the prohibition of gravestones from child labor in NRW has been suspended by decree. With that, it is still possible to set up tombstones from child labor in NRW. Even worse: It is not possible for municipalities and church cemetery authorities to ban gravestones from child labor – because the legal basis in NRW is missing or is on ice.

Background: The funeral law was already adjusted in 2014 so that grave stones from child labor were banned ( we reported ). However, the then red-green state government wanted to further safeguard itself and commissioned reports to examine the legal situation and the existence of child labor in countries of origin (including India, China, Turkey). Until the expert opinion was issued, the ban was suspended by a decree in April 2015. (we reported)
Meanwhile, the reports are available: The reports showed, among other things, that child labor can be expected in Indian quarries. (we reported) Of which even quarries can not be excluded, in which material is produced for grave stones. Nevertheless, the state government has not enforced the prohibition of such gravestones until today.

What many do not know: Even if there is no child labor in an Indian quarry, the working conditions for adult workers are sometimes so catastrophic that after a few years of unprotected work in such a quarry, they will get the deadly and incurable disease of silicosis. This also applies to highly industrialized quarries in the south of India , as long as they are not using wet-processing or work with adequate respiratory protection (FFP2). That means: Regardless of the issue of child labor of gravestones, there is a lot to be said for keeping the working conditions in Indian quarries independently controlled so that this does not happen anymore!

On the occasion of the Day Against Child Labor, we call on the government in North Rhine-Westphalia to fulfill its responsibilities and finally ban gravestones from child labor effectively in NRW.

literally from the press release of the Hochschule Düsseldorf:
“New HSD study calls for action by German states”

The prohibition on erecting gravestones from countries in which exploitative child labor predominates must now also be rigorously implemented. So the conclusion of Prof. Dr. med. Walter Eberlei of the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf (HSD), whose book “Grave stones aus Kinderhand” has just been published. The book presents the results of a study on child labor in the natural stone sector of important supplier countries for Germany. According to this information, stones from India, Vietnam and the Philippines provide evidence of child labor in the natural stone sector, which is highly probable in China. More than half of all tombstones erected in Germany come from India and China.

In 2014, the North Rhine-Westphalian Landtag changed the NRW funeral law and banned the erection of tombstones from countries whose natural stone sector is in violation of the international law ILO convention against exploitative child labor. Stones from such countries may only be used if they have been certified as child labor free. However, the implementation of the law was suspended by decree because there was no clarity as to which supplier countries the certification requirement should apply to. The study of the HSD political scientist eliminates this ambiguity.
…
Professor Eberlei: “All federal states are obliged to implement in their laws the convention of international law ratified by Germany against child labor.”

The now published book on the topic contains detailed country analyzes on India, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brazil as well as summary evaluations. A ten-person team of scientists, also from affected supplier countries, participated in the study. Client for the research was the state government in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Walter Eberlei (ed.): Gravestones from the hands of children. Child labor in quarries of the global South as a political challenge. Frankfurt / M .: Brandes & Apsel, 2018.”

Please refer to: Press release