apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Bravo Maxwell for bringing this to our attention

There are 3 parts to the equation -- stopping child labor; helping the children get an education; and finding alternative sources of income for the families. What seems to be missing, at least from what I could find on the RugMark site, is the third part. Maxwell, is there anything you can add about that?

More from me -- not surprisingly, there is quite a range of views on what to do about this.

http://hrw.org/children/labor.htm

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/gallery/intro.html

http://www.ilo.org/ipec/index.htm

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=8907

As Deborah said, a critical element missing in many well-meaning attempts at stopping child labour is finding an alternate source of revenue for families. What often happens is that when one avenue of exploitation is closed, people use another one which is often far worse. I recall listening to a report about this on CBC radio some time ago; whereas once the children may have been bonded labourers in the rug industry, they may now be forced to serve as live-in houseservants. Often they are beat, burned, raped. They are forced to work long hours, and get little food. Don't get me wrong, I am not defending child labour in the rug trade, but the solutions are far more difficult and complex than just routing out children in rug factories. Helping families rise out of poverty so that they do not need their children to raise money is the crux of the problem. Trade agreements with strong labour and human rights provisions are another (coupled with enforcement!).

Maxwell,
It's great to see AT covering RugMark. We, too, are proud supporters. The Dwell Blog followed the RugMark Young Heroes Tour with a series of posts, and we have recently added a video to the site about RugMark's efforts to end child labor.

Keep up the good work.

Your friends at Dwell.

Thanks for supporting Rug Mark! Another way to think about sourcing for our goods is to support Fair Trade artisans whenever possible and to ask retailers and manufacturers where things come from, how they are made and under what conditions that those who make them live. Traditional business will only begin to take the human and environmental costs into account when we as designers and consumers educate ourselves and demand it. Just because something is inexpensive doesn't mean it has come to you cheaply; often someone in another country is paying the price in poverty, devastated environment, slave labor, and on and on. This is a very positive step and is a place we can all start.

More about Fair Trade: http://www.ifat.org/

e of my teachers designs rugs as a business and also teaches a class on designing rugs (a pretty awesome class, we have an opening in a big museum in a couple weeks for the custom rugs we all designed for clients). Before she started, she went to Nepal to see the studios not just for the weaver, but spinning, dyeing, etc since she wanted to make sure she was using companies that were both better environmentally and for the people (fair wages above average and no child labor).

There's also always custom rugs. They are more expensive, but you have much more control over the dyes, source of wool, how many knots per inch, how it is finished (and how well, this makes a huge huge difference) and where it is woven.

Unfortunately, quite a few rug weaving studios have been shut down (or bombed) in Nepal in recent years because handmade rugs are having a hard time competing with machine made. Some of the rug companies now are not only not using child labor, but are trying to provide childcare, school, etc.

Bravo from me too for supporting this! Hoppekat - well said!

As Communications Manager at RugMark, I would like to respond to Deborah's thoughtful post about finding alternative sources of income for families when child weavers are rescued and given educational opportunities. This is an important question that deserves further consideration and clarification.

First, it is important to point out that most child weavers are not able to contribute to the financial wellbeing of their families. Most are bonded laborers who receive little to no pay. In 2005, 88 percent of the children RugMark found illegally working in Nepal’s carpet factories were not earning a single rupee.

In addition, studies show that child labor makes poverty worse. Children are employed cheaply or at no cost and drive down wages for adult workers, making it more difficult for families to survive.

RugMark works to end this cycle of poverty. We provide rehabilitation and long-term educational support to the child workers that we rescue, giving them the tools they need to achieve a higher standard of living as adults. Rescued child weavers above the legal working age are provided with vocational training and job placement, enabling them to earn a living wage and contribute more meaningfully to their families.

I hope the information above addresses your question. For more information, feel free to contact RugMark at info@rugmark.org. Thank you.

Thanks to RugMark for its very interesting and informative response to my post.

RugMark is a wonderful company who makes sure that the World is not using children as slaves. Passion of Persia supports RugMark, and wishes them great ease to help the children who are being abused. For your rug cleaning, and rug repairing needs. please consider us. www.passionofpersia.com
www.persian-rug-repair.com