Notice of Updates to the Department of Labor's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor Required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, 60317-60319 [2013-23223]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
• Office of the Secretary of Labor

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60317-60319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23223]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary of Labor


Notice of Updates to the Department of Labor's List of Goods 
Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor Required by the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005

AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Labor.

ACTION: Notice of Updates.

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SUMMARY: This notice removes 3 items from the ``List of Goods Produced 
by Child Labor or Forced Labor'' (List), produced in accordance with 
the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005. 
These updates amend the fourth edition of the List, published on 
September 26, 2012. With these updates, the List includes 134 goods 
from 73 countries, and total of 342 line items. The primary purposes of 
the List are to raise public awareness about the incidence of child 
labor and forced labor in the production of goods in the countries 
listed and to promote efforts to eliminate such practices.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Director, Office of Child Labor, 
Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor 
Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor at (202) 693-4843 (this is not a 
toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Updates to the List of Goods

    The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) hereby announces 
the removal of tobacco from Kazakhstan, charcoal from Namibia, and 
diamonds from Zimbabwe from the List, produced in accordance with the 
TVPRA of 2005. These updates amend the fourth edition of the List, 
published on September 26, 2012. With these updates, the List includes 
134 goods from 73 countries, and total of 342 line items.
    Section 105(b) of the TVPRA of 2005 mandated that ILAB develop and 
publish a list of goods from countries that ILAB ``has reason to 
believe are produced with child labor or forced labor in violation of 
international standards.'' (22 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2).) ILAB's Office of 
Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking carries out this 
mandate. ILAB published the initial List on September 10, 2009, and has 
since published annual updates. Until this year, the annual updates 
have taken the form of a full report which includes a discussion of the 
List's context, scope, methodology, and limitations. In 2013, ILAB has 
chosen to publish a limited number of updates via this notice. This is 
in accordance with amendments made to the TVPRA by the Violence Against 
Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, which mandated that ILAB publish the 
List every two years beginning no later than December 1, 2014. (Public 
Law 113-4.) ILAB will publish a full, updated TVPRA report in 2014.
    The primary purposes of the List are to raise public awareness 
about the incidence of child labor and forced labor in the production 
of goods in the

[[Page 60318]]

countries listed and to promote efforts to eliminate such practices. 
Further information about the List, including the updated List, past 
years' TVPRA reports, Frequently Asked Questions, and a bibliography of 
sources, are available on the ILAB Web site at: https://www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/tvpra.htm.

II. Methodology for Removal of Goods From the List

    Foreign governments, industry groups, individual companies and 
other stakeholders frequently inquire about the process for removing a 
good from the List. According to ILAB's ``Procedural Guidelines for the 
Development and Maintenance of the List of Goods From Countries 
Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor'' (Procedural Guidelines), 
published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2007, ILAB must have 
reason to believe that a problem of child or forced labor is 
``significantly reduc[ed] if not eliminate[ed]'' from the production of 
the particular good in the country in question for it to be removed. 
(72 FR 73374, 73377.) The guidelines indicate that a forced or child 
labor problem at ``a single company or facility'' or in ``an isolated 
incident'' ``will not weigh in favor of a finding that a good is 
produced in violation of international standards.'' (Id.) Similarly, 
when ILAB has reason to believe that a child or forced labor problem 
with respect to a listed good has been eliminated or reduced to a 
single company or facility or to an isolated incident, the threshold 
for removal would be met.
    The Procedural Guidelines also provide a process by which the 
public may submit comments relating to any good on the List. ILAB has 
received over 100 such comments, or submissions, available on the 
Internet at: https://www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/tvprasubmissions.htm. Many submissions have contended that a good 
should be removed from the List but have not provided sufficient 
evidence that the problem of child or forced labor has been 
significantly reduced or eliminated.
    In the 2012-2013 research period, ILAB staff reviewed four items 
currently on the List to determine whether there was a reason to 
believe that there had been a significant reduction or elimination of a 
problem of child labor and/or forced labor. These items were: tobacco 
from Kazakhstan, diamonds from Zimbabwe, charcoal from Namibia, and 
salt from Cambodia. ILAB reached a determination on three of these 
items, as discussed below, and continues to conduct research on the 
fourth item, salt from Cambodia.
    ILAB's research included desk research, in-person and telephone 
interviews with key informants, and when possible, travel to the 
relevant countries to conduct in-person interviews and site visits. In 
some cases, research was carried out in coordination with U.S. 
Government colleagues from other agencies, grantees and/or contractors. 
These three cases are discussed more fully below.
    Due to limited resources, ILAB was not able to research in depth 
all the goods currently on the List that presented a possible case for 
removal from the List, but we continue to research potential removals 
on an ongoing basis. In identifying the particular cases on which to 
focus ILAB research, we prioritize those for which a credible argument 
for removal has been brought to our attention by foreign governments, 
industry groups or U.S. Government colleagues from other agencies, or 
other stakeholders.

III. Discussion of Goods and Countries Removed

A. Research on Child Labor and Forced Labor in Tobacco Production in 
Kazakhstan

    In 2009, ILAB placed tobacco from Kazakhstan on the TVPRA List 
based on sources dating from 2003-2008. These sources indicated that 
children--both Kazakh children and children of migrant families--worked 
in a variety of tobacco-related activities, including performing 
strenuous, labor-intensive tasks. The sources also indicated that adult 
migrant laborers faced passport confiscation, coercive recruitment, 
induced indebtedness, and other forced labor-related practices. That 
same year, Philip Morris Kazakhstan (PMK), the sole buyer of tobacco in 
Kazakhstan, began to roll out its Agricultural Labor Practices program, 
developed in consultation with the non-governmental organization (NGO) 
Verit[eacute] and the International Labor Organization. The program 
includes comprehensive monitoring of labor practices on all tobacco 
farms in Kazakhstan, including child labor and forced labor. Along with 
this monitoring, PMK and its local NGO partners have carried out 
efforts to educate agricultural workers and families about their 
rights, available grievance mechanisms, and alternatives to child 
labor; and the Government of Kazakhstan has carried out enforcement 
actions in areas where child labor is suspected. At the same time as 
these efforts have taken place, the size of the tobacco sector has 
declined steeply. In 2011, ILAB began to receive reports that child and 
forced labor were no longer present in the country's relatively few 
remaining tobacco farms.
    Following up on these reports, ILAB carried out research in 2012 
and 2013 to understand current labor conditions in the sector, analyze 
efforts on the part of various stakeholders to combat child labor and 
forced labor, and determine whether child labor and/or forced labor 
remain significant problems in the sector. ILAB carried out a 
qualitative assessment that included a desk review, field research to 
Kazakhstan for key informant interviews, and follow-up interviews with 
other key informants. In all, 6 documents were analyzed and 17 
interviews were conducted.
    Informants confirmed that the size of the industry had decreased 
from over 300 farms in 2010 to 74 farms in 2013. With the reduction in 
the number of farms and land used for tobacco production, the use of 
migrant labor has also declined. During the 2012 peak season, only 140 
migrants worked on tobacco farms in Kazakhstan. Informants--including 
government officials and NGO representatives- confirmed that the PMK 
monitoring system is comprehensive and credible, and that NGO efforts 
have been highly effective in educating agricultural workers about 
their rights, available grievance mechanisms, and educational 
opportunities as alternatives to child labor. Since its inception in 
2009, the comprehensive monitoring system has not identified any cases 
of forced labor, and informants confirmed that previous forced labor-
related practices have been abolished. A minority of ILAB's informants 
stated that child labor may still occur in rare cases, but fewer than 
200 children (native Kazakh and migrant) currently live on tobacco 
farms, and the comprehensive monitoring system in place in the sector 
identified only one child working in 2012.
    ILAB has concluded that child labor in Kazakhstan's tobacco sector 
has been significantly reduced. In addition, there has been no evidence 
of forced labor in Kazakhstan's tobacco sector in recent years, and 
ILAB's research suggests the practice has been virtually eliminated. If 
a case of child labor or forced labor were found in the sector, there 
are mechanisms in place to address the situation in an appropriate 
manner. As a result, ILAB is removing tobacco from Kazakhstan from the 
List.

B. Research on Child Labor in Charcoal Production in Namibia

    In response to a U.S. Embassy request to research whether or not 
child labor in

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the production of charcoal existed in more than an isolated incident, 
in early 2013 ILAB staff conducted follow-up qualitative research to 
determine the current situation of child labor in the Namibian charcoal 
industry. The research included a desk review of documentation and in-
country field research, which included key informant interviews and 
site visits.
    The key informant interviews in Namibia consisted of interviews 
with a total of 30 informants, interviewed individually and in groups, 
including government officials at the national and regional levels, 
charcoal producers, former chairmen of the Namibian Charcoal Producers' 
Association, workers and employers' associations, international 
organizations, and NGOs. In total, 14 organizations were interviewed. 
Site visits were conducted to two charcoal producing farms in 
Otjozondjupa Region, one in Grootfontein and the other in Otjiwarango. 
The interviews and site visits conducted by ILAB staff in Namibia 
validated that there is ``no significant incidence of child labor or 
forced labor'' in the production of charcoal, and, after considering 
the factors in the Procedural Guidelines, ILAB determined that it no 
longer has ``reason to believe'' that the use of child labor in 
charcoal production in Namibia is more than isolated. Thus, ILAB is 
removing Namibian charcoal from the List.

C. Research on Child Labor in Diamond Production in Zimbabwe

    In 2006, diamonds were discovered in the Marange region of 
southeastern Zimbabwe, precipitating a rush to the area by artisanal 
miners. Based on sources documenting worst forms of child labor in 
artisanal mining from 2006-2008--including working long hours, carrying 
heavy loads, and deprivation of food and water--ILAB added diamonds 
from Zimbabwe to the List.
    However, beginning in October 2008, the Government of Zimbabwe 
cracked down on artisanal mining, and in 2010 began awarding 
concessions to private companies to mine diamonds. According to reports 
from 2011 onward, the little artisanal mining that remained was carried 
out mostly by informal mining syndicates involving the government's 
security forces and private security guards, and did not involve 
children.
    Following up on these reports, ILAB carried out research in 2012 
and 2013 to understand the current labor conditions in Zimbabwe's 
diamond sector, analyze the factors that may have affected changes in 
the sector, and determine whether child labor had been significantly 
reduced or eliminated. ILAB carried out a qualitative assessment that 
included a desk review, field research to Zimbabwe for key informant 
interviews, and follow-up interviews with other key informants. In all, 
17 documents were analyzed and 24 interviews were conducted. 
Interviewees included government officials, workers' associations, 
international organizations, NGOs, and members of the Kimberley 
Process, a joint government, industry and civil society initiative to 
stem worldwide flows of rough diamonds used by rebel movements to 
finance wars against legitimate governments. Informants reported that 
artisanal mining was virtually non-existent in Marange. In the 
concessioned areas, Kimberley Process monitors who had visited the 
mines had seen no child labor, and other informants felt that child 
labor was extremely unlikely, in part due to the more formal hiring 
processes in place in the privately-run mines.
    ILAB concluded that the change in the diamond industry from 
informal artisanal mining to tightly-controlled concessioned mines has 
caused a significant reduction in child labor. Accordingly, ILAB is now 
removing diamonds from Zimbabwe from the List. This determination was 
based solely on ILAB's criteria for removal from the List, which do not 
include consideration of other human rights abuses in Zimbabwe's 
diamond sector that have been reported by other U.S. Government 
agencies, such as murder, torture, and other cruel, inhuman, or 
degrading treatment or punishment.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 17th day of September, 2013.
Carol Pier,
Acting Deputy Undersecretary, Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2013-23223 Filed 9-30-13; 8:45 am]
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