The company seeks to clarify claims its Indian suppliers hire girls as young as six
Multinational firm Unilever has pursued policies that encourage child labour, according to a report published by campaigners for underage workers in India's huge cotton seed industry.
The Anglo-Dutch giant said it was opposed to child labour and would be happy to meet the voluntary group responsible for the report, the India Committee of the Netherlands, to discuss its findings.
Unilever is not accused of employing children directly. The culprits, according to the committee, are lower down the food chain - farmers in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh where large areas are devoted to cotton production and where much of the group's research was carried out.
These farmers, the report says, employ children as young as six to work in the cotton seed industry. The charge against Unilever is that it buys hybrid cotton seeds from these farmers who not only employ children but also pay them only around 30 rupees (about HK$5) for a 12-hour day.
The cotton-growing districts are full of landless labourers who are too poor to send their children to school. With no option but to put their children to work, they accept whatever wages and conditions are offered.
Cotton is a major commercial crop. India accounts for 12 per cent of the world's cotton production.