Why?
Mica is the mineral that adds a shimmer to beauty products such as blusher, eye shadow, lipstick and foundation, as well as to the paints used by the car and construction industries.
Some of the world’s biggest cosmetics companies including L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, Revlon, as well as suppliers such as Merck, source mica from India, one of the top producing mica countries in the world.
Due to extreme poverty around these mines an estimated 20,000 children work in mica mines in the two Indian states of Bihar and Jharkand.
Reference: Beauty companies and the struggle to source child labour-free mica
Companies like Estée Lauder, L’Oréal and Yves Rocher have started to work with the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) initiative to combat child labor, called “child-friendly villages” with the mission to get children in 500 villages in the region into schools instead of mining by working with local communities and governments to improve educational infrastructure and living conditions.
So far a 100 villages have been converted into “child friendly villages” leading to 3,650 children being enrolled in school, several new schools constructed and existing schools improved with basic infrastructure such as clean drinking water, mid-day meals and toilets.
These companies have expressed interest to work towards converting the other 400 villages into “child friendly villages”but have not signed onto any clear commitments which is bringing concern from anti-child labor organizations.
“The lack of clear targets, a well-defined timeframe and a proper control mechanism are reasons to worry,” says Rob Harrison, editor of Ethical Consumer magazine. “In 10 years, child labor has been far from eradicated.”
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Beauty companies and the struggle to source child labour-free mica
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Alternatives
Supporting Improving Unethical Supply Chains
Many advocacy organizations have expressed that direct product boycotts may do more harm to the poor villages than good and have instead recommend to support campaigns to force companies and local governments to do more to improve the conditions of these villages, like the “Child Friendly Villages” initiative.
If you want to support “Child Friendly Villages” initiatives please considering donating time of money to Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA).
Supporting Developing New Ethical Supply Chains
Other organizations have advocated that creating and supporting supply chains that don’t use child labor will increase the demand and pressure on all companies to take more seriously eliminating child labor in their supply chains.
If you want to support this approach please visit these sites to find fair trade and ethical beauty products.
The Responsible Consumer 