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Article

23 Dec 2007

Author:
Heidi J. Shrager, San Francisco Chronicle

Many rescued child laborers in India soon back at another dismal job

A group of child laborers recently rescued from a dank factory where they threaded sequins onto shirts to be sold by the San Francisco retail giant Gap Inc. finally went home last week. But in a country long desensitized to minors toiling in iron ore mines, fireworks plants and textile factories, the majority of children freed in raids wind up at another job within months of their rescue, according to several children's activists...Rights groups estimate there are as many as 60 million children working in violation of the Child Labor Act, which prohibits children under 14 from working in 72 jobs, ranging from cutting diamonds and shelling cashews to blowing glass. New occupations are still being added, including domestic work and jobs in restaurants and hotels...A Gap spokesman says a New Delhi subcontractor sent the work to an illegal, makeshift facility without Gap's knowledge. Gap ordered the vendor, who they declined to name, to fire the subcontractor who had employed the children in violation of the company's policies. Gap has also placed the vendor on probation, reduced orders to his factory by 50 percent, and is organizing an industry forum called Global March Against Child Labor early next year...