Call to kick child labour out of soccer balls

Friday, June 11, 2010

In the lead up to the FIFA World Cup and the World Day Against Child Labour on Saturday 12 June, Australia’s largest aid agency today called on big sporting companies to continue the fight to eradicate child labour in India and Pakistan’s soccer ball manufacturing industry. 

India and Pakistan produce more than 90 percent of all hand-stitched soccer balls in the world, including those sold in Australia. 

World Vision’s Don’t Trade Lives campaign leader Susan Mizrahi said while there had been some big improvements in how soccer balls were made for the export industry, there was still a risk that child labour was used to make the balls. 

“Over the last 10 years, export manufacturers have been under intense international scrutiny to clean up their supply chains and eradicate child labour. In 2006, Nike severed its ties with its soccer balls manufacturer, Saga Sport, for violating Nike’s own code of conduct relating to child labour,” she said. 

“While there have been some huge improvements, our concern is that when manufacturers get more orders than their stitching centres can handle, they outsource to contractors who then give the raw materials to families in villages to stitch together. It’s at this point that even the big brands can lose control of their supply chains.” 

The demand for soccer ball production in Pakistan alone reportedly increases from 40 million balls to 60 million balls during a World Cup year. 

“World Vision is calling on the big sporting companies to make sure their supply chains are transparent, traceable and independently verifiable to ensure that they are free from all child and exploited labour,” Ms Mizrahi said. 

“Consumers have a role to play too. While the balls we kick around in Australia are most likely not made using child labour, it’s still really important that consumers are aware of the issue. Australians who buy soccer balls should make sure the company who makes the ball has an anti-child labour policy.” 

On a recent trip to India, Ms Mizrahi visited Meerut and talked with children who did not go to school and instead stitched soccer balls for India’s domestic market for as little as 7 Australian cents per ball. 

The children said they often sustained septic cuts to their fingers and suffered chronic back, neck and leg pain from sitting in a hunched position for hours at a time. 

The situation Ms Mizrahi found in the district of Jalandhar in India, where soccer balls for the export market are made, was very different. Child stitchers in Jalandhar mostly work after school or on weekends and earned up to 75 Australian cents per ball. 

“The better working conditions in Jalandhar shows there have been positive changes in how soccer balls are made for the export industry. However, we can’t assume that children who make balls for the export industry are totally free from exploitation,” Ms Mizrahi said. 

For more information visit www.worldvision.com.au/donttradelives or ask your favourite sports company what its policy on child labour is at www.chainstorereaction.com.au . 

ENDS 

Susan Mizrahi is available for media interviews. Please contact World Vision media officer Sacha Myers on 0457 926 018.

Media Releases, Child labour, Poverty, Asia and the Pacific, Middle East, Eastern Europe & Central Asia, Child Labour, FIFA, India, Pakistan

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