As the European Union is on the way to approving key pieces of legislation cracking down on modern slavery in its consumer products, top clothing brands are still unwilling to fully remove child and bonded labour from their supply chain, which continues to be a widespread scourge in cotton farming in Pakistan.
The European Commission has recently decided to extend to Pakistan its duty-free trade regime. This was first introduced in 2013, under the condition that Pakistan would enforce international labour standards and abolish any form of work exploitation. However, ten years later, evidence shows that there has been no real progress.
Photo credit © Shahzeb Jillani
