No
Longer A Secret
VICTORIA'S SECRET has promised to investigate claims of
child labour, after reports emerged that the company it uses to create its
fairtrade cotton - the Burkina Faso programme - beat and abuse its child
employees.
"[The allegations] describe
behaviour contrary to our company's values and the code of labour and sourcing
standards we require all of our suppliers to meet," said Tammy Roberts
Myers, the lingerie brand's parent company Limited Brands Inc's vice
president of external communications. "Our standards specifically prohibit
child labour. We are vigorously engaging with stakeholders to fully investigate
this matter."
According to Bloomsberg, Victoria's Secret made a deal in 2007 to buy cotton
"fairtrade" and organic from Burkina Faso. The products were launched
in shops in 2009 and were labelled "Good for women. Good for the children
who depend on them." Bloomberg
Marketshas since discovered that the farmer,
Victorien Kamboule, who produces the cotton whips and denies food to his child
work force, using 13-year-old Clarisse Kambire as a case study.
"If I leave the child out, how
will I be able to do the work?" Kamboule said. "I sometimes beat her.
"This is when I give her work and she doesn't deliver."
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