A Large Number Of Clothing Brands Use Refugee Child Laborers In Turkey To Make Clothes.

BBC Undercover:The Refugees Who Make Our Clothes, released on Monday night, reveals a large number of

The brand used Turkey refugee child laborers to make garments in Syria.

According to a press survey, companies using Syria refugees to manufacture clothing include British online retailer ASOSPLC (ASC.L) and British department store Marks&Spencer Group PLC (MKS.L) Martha.

M&S, while illegal employment of adult Syria refugees includes Spanish retailers Zara and Mango.

Although the retailers involved claim that moral trade is the foundation of the enterprise, the group called on suppliers to comply with their procurement principles as required, and promised to investigate Turkey to ensure that the above incidents did not happen again. However, industry and critics all agreed that the commitment of retailers was not realistic, and before the BBC survey, retailers claimed that there was no child labor in their supply chain.

The Danielle McMullan of ILO's Business&Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) said in an interview that retailers must understand that they need to be responsible for it. It is far from enough to say "I don't know, it's not my fault."

In fact, as early as the BBCPanorama documentary, BHRRC issued a report earlier this year, which reported that a large number of refugees in Syria rushed to Europe, while the Turkey government refused to issue labour permits for refugees immediately. Many refugees, including children refugees, were pushed to the black market and became the targets of manufacturers' extortion, which also increased the risk of child labour and factory abuse.

According to BHRRC, in the middle of 2015, Swedish retailers Hennes&MauritzAB (HMb.ST) and British apparel retailer NextPLC (NXT.L) found the use of child labour in Syria in the supply chain of Turkey.

In this regard, a spokeswoman for Swedish retailer Hennes&MauritzAB said that only one case was found, and the cooperation with the supplier was terminated immediately after the discovery. Hennes&MauritzAB also informed the NGO organization to actively repair it.

The spokesman said that if the company found child labor in the supply chain, it would take immediate action and take all necessary measures.

The company said that even if a supplier employs a worker without a labor certificate, the company will immediately terminate its partnership with the supplier.

BHRRC executive director PhilBloomer commended the actions of the H&M and called other Europe

We should learn from them to eliminate child labor in the supply chain.

BBC Panorama's Secret: refugees for our clothing show that 15 year old child workers work for more than 12 hours a day.

Marks&Spencer Group PLC Marsha general M&S spokesman said that the group had previously found that its supply chain in Turkey had no evidence of illegal use of Syria refugees, and the BBC survey made them very disappointed. This situation is very serious and is not acceptable to the company.

The company also said it was discussing with the Turkey supply chain to try to provide legal work for refugees in Turkey.

Zara's parent company Inditex SA (ITX.MC) India Textile Group said that the group had audited the laundry factory in June before filming BBC and ordered it to complete its improvement by December.

Mango spokesman said the company has been holding zero tolerance for the description of BBC Panorama documentary.

The ASOSPLC said that factories using Syria refugee child labor were not their official supply chain factories, but they were eventually sent to the company for sale. The factory found 3 children under 16 years old and 11 adult refugees in Syria.

ASOSPLC said it would provide financial support to Syria refugee child laborers and help them return to school. Illegal adult workers would be paid the corresponding wages until they were legally permitted to work.

However, ASOSPLC still claims that "these factories have nothing to do with ASOS", and the company has remedied the incident.

According to the survey, ASOSPLC has 23 suppliers and 66 factories in Turkey, employing 7793 labor force.

In a factory for ASOS clothing, called YilteksTekstil, there is a refugee child worker aged 14 and two who is 15 years old.

ASOSPLC CEO Nick Beighton responded to the matter with the group's spokesman.

He said he would do his best to work with Turkey to solve the problem, but it is irresponsible to quit Turkey altogether.

He said that the influx of refugees caused the Turkey issue to challenge the group at present.

For similar reports, he said he would welcome the idea of improving the environment of vulnerable supply chain workers.

Due to the rising cost of labor in Asian markets, especially in China, Turkey is increasingly becoming the most important supply chain in the European apparel market. Besides the low cost, the demand for rapid response of fashion industry to the trend also makes European domestic supply chain popular. At present, the main retailers in Europe and even the United States all have supply chains in Turkey. Therefore, the problem of supply chain is becoming more and more serious.

In its early report, BHRRC asked 28 international brands about the use of refugees in the supply chain, including the Nike, Gap and VF giants in the United States. Besides the high street brand Next, H&M, Zara parent Inditex, Asos, Topshop and Topman parent company, Europe also included luxury brands and enterprises.

German luxury group Hugo BossAG (BOSS.DE) Hugo Bosch group was launched by the labor organization Industri ALL Global Union global labor union in early 2015, using sweatshops in Turkey, though the company strongly denied it.

According to BHRRC, about 250 thousand -40 000 refugees in Syria have become illegal workers in Turkey, and there are many children among these illegal workers.