VZCZCXRO4273
OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHMA
DE RUEHKA #6636 3130821
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 090821Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2602
INFO RUCNCLC/CHILD LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1362
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 9469
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7649
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 8798
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1559
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0256
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1071
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0038
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0082
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS DHAKA 006636 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD PGOV CASC BG
SUBJECT: SEARCH FOR ALLEGED CHILD WORKERS AT HARVEST RICH 
 
REF: A. KOZLOWSKI/ADAMS EMAIL NOV 11 
 
     ¶B. 2006 
 
¶1. Summary: After a labor rights group acccused the Harvest 
Rich Garment factory of using child labor, Harvest Rich 
denied the allegations and produced some of the alleged child 
workers, who said they are 18 or older. Visiting buyers were 
unable to find any evidence of child workers, while NLC was 
unable to present any of the 200 plus child workers.  A labor 
activist stated that the child workers were fired in October, 
and the workers who now claimed to be 18 or older are at 
Harvest Rich's dormitories to prevent them recanting their 
claims of majority. Buyers said they had no plans to cancel 
orders based on the Harvest Rich report.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) After the release of the National Labor Committee's 
(NLC) October report on child labor at Harvest Rich, buyer 
representatives from Tesco, Hanes, Marks and Spencer, and 
labor standards accrediting firms arrived in Dhaka to inspect 
the Harvest Rich factory in Narayanganj, 20 kilometers south 
of Dhaka.  According to the report, which provided photos and 
descriptions of a number of alleged child workers, there were 
200 to 300 child workers out of 2,500 employees at Harvest 
Rich. 
 
¶3. (SBU) On November 6, according to Solidarity Center Field 
Representative David Welsh, a group claiming to represent 
workers at Harvest Rich presented the alleged child workers 
to the buyer representatives.  According to Welsh, the 
alleged child workers said that they were not minors but were 
18 or older, and provided medical examination certificates 
attesting to their age. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Stephen A. Jesseph, President of the international 
labor standards accreditation firm, Worldwide Responsible 
Apparel Production (WRAP), which accredited Harvest Rich as 
compliant with responsible labor standards, told laboff that 
that the presented workers said that NLC's Charles Kernaghan 
had promised them visits to the United States in exchange for 
their statements that they were child workers.  Welsh told 
laboff that he had a private meeting with Kernaghan, who was 
not able to bring any of the alleged 200 child workers with 
him.  Welsh added that whether there really were child 
workers is "somewhat murky." 
 
¶5. (SBU) On November 7 and 8, the buyers representatives met 
with factory management and toured the factory.  Jesseph told 
laboff that if there were 200 child workers there, and that 
if they hid from his inspectors during their inspections, 
there are no bathrooms or rooftops large enough to hide them 
all.  He said that WRAP's auditors will be reviewing 
employment records to determine the employment history of the 
seven workers presented in the NLC report and to review the 
employment applications of possible other child workers. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Labor organizer Kalpona Akter, who assisted in the 
NLC study, told Jesseph and laboff that the 200 plus missing 
child workers were all fired in October.  She added that the 
alleged child workers presented to the buyer representatives 
were all detained at the Harvest Rich dormitories and not at 
the factory.  She insisted that Harvest Rich pressured the 
workers to say they were 18 and older and keeps them at the 
dormitory to prevent close examination by the buyers. 
 
¶7. (SBU) As of November 9, many of the buyer representatives 
continued to inspect the Harvest Rich factory, question 
management, and survey other suppliers.  Welsh told laboff 
that all of the representatives said that they do not plan to 
cancel their orders at Harvest Rich based on the NLC report. 
BUTENIS