Think your makeup is ethical because it is sourced sustainably from all natural ingredients? Don’t forget to pay attention to the labor supply chain for the ingredients – natural ingredients quite often involve labor trafficking and exploitation! Mica is not only used in mineral makeup, and pigment in art paints, it’s also heavily used in construction materials, plastics and rubber creation, and more. Nearly 90% of the world’s mica is mined in Madagascar – where at least 11,000 children (as young as five years old) are labor trafficked in the mines.
Without pressure from consumers, corporations are often negligent with their labor supply chains. What is your dollar paying for?
Read the report at The Guardian to learn more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/nov/21/children-as-young-as-five-make-up-most-of-madagascars-mica-mining-workforce Excerpt:
Children as young as five make up more than half the number of miners scavenging for mica in Madagascar, according to a leading child rights group.
A year-long investigation by Terre des Hommes Netherlands found that at least 11,000 children between the ages of five and 17 are employed in quarrying and processing the shimmery, heat-resistant mineral, which is used in everything from makeup to car paint and hugely prevalent in the automotive and electronics industry.
Children comprise as much as 62% of the overall mining workforce, researchers found, with miners descending deep into the ground to cut the mica by hand.
