The Guardian exposed the dark side of the Turkish rag trade by visiting a basement room in an Istanbul suburb where young children that look like seasoned workers dextrously toil away. Young Syrian Kurds that flee their war-torn countries work 60 hours per week for 600 Turkish lira to help support their families while Istanbul’s students are in thier classroom.
The factory supervisor of one young boy told The Guardian: “It’s not our fault that they need to work. The state failed to provide for them.”
There are no figures on the Syrian labor force occupying Turkey’s rag trade but a large number of 2.3 million Syrian refugees living in the country (UN stats) are believed to be exploited in these factories as they have no other financial support. Human Rights Watch reports that child labor is “rampant” especially in the garment sector, the country’s second-largest industry that is a main supplier to Europe but which remains largely unregulated with 60% of its total workforce unregistered. European brands that use Turkey as a supply chain turn a blind eye to the poor working conditions and no auditing.
“Visiting Syrian workers in textile workshops in three Turkish cities – Istanbul, Mersin and Adana – I encountered child labour, poor working conditions and low pay,” reports Guardian reporter Frederik Johannisson who visited Istanbul, Mersin and Adana.
