The renowned journalist Petra Sorge and other journalists have been researching child labor in India for more than a year. They examined the natural stone and carpet sectors. Lobby associations in India have intensively tried to ward off the impression that there could be child labor in their industries. The remarkable thing: These reports were published under the name of UNICEF.

The reports were commissioned by the Indian “Children’s Rights Commission” NCPCR, involving four states from which German stone importers also source their goods. The reports claim that the granite industry is “completely mechanized”. All processes are designed in such a way that “there is no room for manual work, especially not for child labor”. XertifiX has previously discovered that such claims are out of thin air and ignore large part of the reality in India.

Another commission report appeared in January 2019 and also virtually clears the carpet sector of child labor. UNICEF denies participation, although three UNICEF people were present on dates related to the field study. In fact, the journalists found child labor here, too.

At the request of the journalists, the UN Children’s Fund finally granted participation in the studies that deny child labor in the granite sector. The question has to be asked: How can it be that the recognized United Nations Children’s Fund supports reports that apparently deny child labor in industrial sectors in India in order to lobby for Indian exports?

Please refer: Im Namen von Unicef (Der Spiegel)
Please refer: How industry bodies are using the NCPCR and UNICEF to whitewash accusations of child labour (The Caravan)