New report: The Dark Sites of Granite Modern slavery, child labour and unsafe work in Indian granite quarries

PRESS RELEASE
Utrecht, 23 August 2017
New report: The Dark Sites of Granite
Modern slavery, child labour and unsafe work in Indian granite quarries

What should companies do?
New research, commissioned by the India Committee of the Netherlands and Stop Child Labour, reveals that modern slavery, low wages, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions are rampant in granite quarries in South India. In some quarries, especially in waste stone processing, child labour is found.

There is an enormous gap in working conditions between permanent workers (mainly supervisors) and casual workers (70% of the workforce). The first group receives safety equipment, insurance and an employment contract, while the casual labourers doing the dangerous manual work, lack those fundamental labour rights.

The research shows that granite sourced from the investigated quarries is imported by 33 natural stone companies and 3 banks from AustraliaAustria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and the USA. China is also a major importer, processor and re-exporter of Indian granite for the international market.

Only a few companies are member of a sustainability initiative aiming to improve working conditions in the natural stone sector, but these initiatives still hardly tackle the deplorable working conditions in granite quarries. The draft report was sent to all 36 companies and banks, but only 5 reacted. 

Focus on links between quarries and importers
India is a top exporter of granite, widely used for wall and floor tiles, tomb stones and kitchen tops in western countries. Western governments are an important end-buyer of granite for buildings, pavements, public squares etc. Half of the total world exports of raw granite comes from India..


See here for an article from Reuters and here in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German)


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