"Opportunities and challenges in india's cotton sector: Due diligence in raw materials", June 2024

...Between June 2022 and March 2023, Transparentem investigated labor conditions on cotton farms in an Indian state that produces a significant amount of conventional and organic cotton and found evidence of child labor, including the worst forms of child labor, on some farms. Investigators also found evidence of issues that the International Labour Organization (ILO) has recognized as indicators of forced labor: debt bondage, abusive working conditions, and abuse of vulnerability, as well as payment of wages below the state minimum wage...

...Transparentem accessed evidence that connected investigated cotton farms to the supply chains of three Indian suppliers that produce cotton fibers, yarns, textiles and/or apparel...Transparentem then traced the supply chains of those three suppliers and connected them to 60 international buyers, most of which were global apparel brands...

...This "grace period" before full publication is intended to provide companies with time to investigate their supply chains and collaborate in developing remediation plans and other action plans to strengthen due diligence and to make concrete commitments toward ongoing remediation...