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Article

4 May 2016

Author:
China Labor Watch

SGS and Alibaba Both Ought to be Held Responsible for the Death of a Child Laborer

Recently, the Chinese media exposed an incident wherein a child laborer suddenly died on April 11th in Foshan, Guangdong. At the same time, the media has also put pressure on the Zhiya Undergarment Company for the moral and human rights questions in its employment of child labor. Upon conducting its own follow up and confirmation efforts, China Labor Watch also calls into question the veracity and social responsibility of the third party factory inspection carried out by the Alibaba operated SGS. Alibaba and its affiliate Alibaba Taofactory are one of the primary sources of orders for Zhiya. Alibaba and SGS’s factory inspection and examination are completely ineffective and surface level, paying little attention to the human rights situation and environment present at its suppliers, as well as lacking standards and norms.

…This sudden death of a child laborer has exposed Alibaba and Zhiya’s mechanism for checking standards is unsound, as well as serious problems with transparency in the supply chain. The Alibaba Group’s understanding of supply chain management and social responsibility clearly lag behind modern standards…The inspections carried out by SGS focus on product quality, ignoring the human rights conditions…

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